


Sailor Moon: A Different Path

by StarGirl11



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime), Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Manga), Sailor Moon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Earthquakes, F/F, F/M, Prosthesis, Survivor Guilt, hydrophobia, tsunami
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2017-11-20 05:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 98,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarGirl11/pseuds/StarGirl11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>14-year-old Usagi Tsukino had thought she had seen it all. Having barely survived the earthquake and tsunami that decimated her hometown she's still adjusting to the new life she and her parents are attempting to construct in Tokyo. It's been a tough last two years and she still has a rough time ahead of her but she's hoping with help of her remaining family and friends everything will eventually go back to the quasi-normal she lived in.</p><p>Luna has been hunting for Sailor Moon, the girl destined to lead the sailor senshi in the battle against Queen Beryl, for as long as she can remember. When she sees Usagi leaving the arcade one day she sees potential and hope not having a clue of the scars both physical and mental the young girl hides.</p><p>Luna does as she sees fit and awakens Usagi as Sailor Moon. But the senshi she gets is not the one she is expecting. Now dealing with a skittish, nervous, under confident, and all ready traumatized senshi vs the happy go lucky girl she was searching for will make the fight with the enemy a very different story.</p><p>And a slight push down a different path when three girls meet earlier than they should have will forever change the well known legend of Sailor Moon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Different Moon

**Author's Note:**

> First off I want to thank a couple of people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for god knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> Second this is an alternate retelling of the Sailor Moon anime. This whole story was born from the idea of 'What if the Outer Senshi awoke before the Inners (w/ the exception of Usagi of course)?'. And from there grew from a simple fun idea to the complex story it is now. 
> 
> Third this does not take place in the 90s. This actually starts in January of 2013, the timing is very specific for a reason. I had to shift the timeline when I chose the idea for reasons that will be explained within the story rather quickly.
> 
> Finally a big thanks to niallcaneatmyfoodanytime ,my beta, for helping me make this story presentable to the public. Wouldn't be here without you!
> 
> So sit back, relax, and please enjoy the story!

_Dear Shingo,_  
 _It’s been almost two years now. And most things haven’t really changed much. That was until today. I had the most unusual event occur on the way home after school…_

  
Usagi sighed taking one last look at the test before shoving it into the deepest parts of her shoulder bag. She would rather like to shove the entire year off the deep end, the way it was going. But there was no way she could do that. At least it was almost over, two more months and then she would be done and hopefully would never have to deal with Haruna-sensei again.

But then again, judging by the way the powers seemed to be treating her she would most likely not only have to repeat the year but be also stuck with Haruna-sensei. Haruna-sensei was’t necessarily a bad teacher, it was just that her teaching method was one Usagi just couldn’t get on board with no matter how hard she tried. And the mess she had lived through, having missed school for a few months when her home was destroyed, just made the whole year even worse than it otherwise would have been.

She was just about to walk trough the school gates, when she heard a voice call her name behind her, “Usagi-chan wait up!” Usagi turned her head to see her long time childhood friend Naru approaching from behind.

Once Naru caught up with her she continued, “I don’t know how you still manage to change your clothes and get out before me. So how did the test go?”

Usagi winced at the brought up test that was laying shoved down towards the bottom of her shoulder bag. Naru gave her a sympathetic look before answering her own question with, “Not so great then?”

“No. In fact it went worse than our last English test, can you believe that?” Usagi said as a way of explanation.

Naru winced sympathetically at that before replying, “Ouch. The administrators still won’t accommodate you then?”

“No, they keep saying that the other survivors haven’t needed the accommodations we’re requesting. We could maybe get a doctor to write us a note to help get me the excuse, but considering how that’s been going that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Not that I think it matters anymore. If things continue the way they are, I’m going to be forced to repeat a year,” Usagi said with a sigh.

“That is really stupid. I don’t think most people missed almost half a year while recovering from the accident. Can’t you hire a lawyer or someone to force them into seeing reason?” Naru asked.

“We can’t afford the fees right now. Most of the spare money is going into saving for a better housing and I can live with the way things are really.” Usagi replied, giving Naru a small smile that didn’t really reach her eyes.

“But-” Naru started.

“But nothing. It was hard enough to get the money for the legs. I want to see Mom smile again and our best chance on accomplishing that is to find a new house. It will give some closure to the whole thing I think.” Usagi said attempting a reassuring smile.

“If you say so,” Naru said after a second, before changing the subject, “So there’s a cute new hire over at the arcade I’ve been telling you about. How about coming along today? It would be a nice way to get your mind off the test.”

Usagi hesitated for a second before replying, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt just for this once to go to the arcade.”

“That’s the spirit!” Naru said, dragging her off in the direction of which she assumed the arcade was in.

 

* * *

 

It was a couple of hours later when the girls finally left the arcade intending to head home. Usagi had to admit despite her initial reluctance, the arcade had been a great way to blow off the steam that had been building up around school and her grades.

“Now don’t you feel much better!” Naru said with a chirp.

“I guess,” Usagi admitted with a small smile.

“How about you try to toss that old bad test into that wastebasket over there? Maybe “shooting some hoops” will relieve some of that tension caused by that stupid test.” Naru suggested brightly.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt though I am going to have to get it back somehow. Horribly bad score or not, my parents are going to want to see it,” Usagi said with a sigh.

“Well then we’ll just shoot it a few times quickly before anyone else can drop stuff off in the basket and the head home.” Naru explained.

“Well I guess one hoop wouldn’t hurt me or anyone.” Usagi said, pulling out the test from the bottom of her bag after a moment of thought on the subject.

“That’s the spirit!” Naru said enthusiastically with a smile.

Usagi crumpled the test up into a rather haphazardly shaped ball, aimed it at the basket, and threw. Only to accidentally hit a black haired boy on the back of the head who was maybe a couple of years older than her and Naru. He turned around and tossed the ball back to them, making a face.

“Sorry.” Usagi said, scratching her head nervously. She hadn’t meant to hit anyone with the ball, but then again, she didn’t exactly have good aim or anything, so maybe she should have expected something like this to happen.

“Just make sure you don’t do it again, Odango Otama.” was the boy’s response.

“Excuse me? My name is Usagi. U-sa-gi, remember it.” Usagi said bristly outwardly but hurting inwardly. There was only one person who had ever been allowed to call her Odango Otama.  
Just that one person, and this guy was not that person.

“Whatever Odango.” the boy said waving them off and heading off in a different direction

While Usagi continued to bristle for a few minutes, “You know he doesn’t know what the heck that nickname means to you. He probably just thought he was being cute.”

Usagi sighed after a second before responding: “I know, but it still hurts to hear anyone call me that. Only he was allowed to call me that and that’s how it will always be.”

“Well I should probably walk you home, considering this is the first time you’ve been to the arcade.” Naru said after a minute, choosing to change the subject.

“I could probably get there if you wrote the directions down on something.” Usagi muttered in response.

“Right…and I’m Sailor V. Usagi you have one of the worst sense of directions I know and that’s when you know how to get somewhere. I don’t want to know what would happen if I let you walk back home alone.” Naru said

“I’m not that bad.” Usagi attempted to protest, despite the knowledge of the contrary.

Naru gave a good old natured eye roll in response but didn’t say anything. The two girls fell quiet for a brief bit as they both turned to head towards the apartment that Usagi and her family lived in.Neither girl noticed a small black cat with an unusual crescent shaped bald spot on her forehead trailing them. Or the other more menacing shadow trailing closely behind the cat. Not close enough to be detected by the cat or by the girls but close enough to be able to keep an eye on them

 

* * *

  
They made it a few blocks from the arcade before both girls were surprised by something faster than Usagi could blink knocked Naru down to the ground. Usagi was only saved since she had dropped a few paces back, feeling a bit uneasy about the area.

It was one of the strangest creatures Usagi had ever seen in her life. While it was human-esque in nature, the resemblance to any humans that she knew of ended at the stature. Rope like hair whipped around its head, some of it seeming to help hold Naru down along with the creature’s arms.

“Naru!” Usagi shouted out with concern after the shock had worn off enough for her brain to register that this was very real.

A small black cat darted out from one of the nearby alleys. The cat paused seeming to glance back and forth between the monster, Naru, and Usagi. Usagi paid no attention to the cat, trying to think on whether or not it would be better to flee and seek help or to try to get Naru out of the creature’s grip.

The cat let out a sigh before turning her and doing a back flip? Well that’s something you don’t see everyday, Usagi thought. But then again, you didn’t see a ugly creature attacking you and your best friend every day.

“No time to explain. If you want to save your friend take the locket and shout Moon Prism Power Make Up!” the cat told her.

Usagi hesitated for the briefest of a second before picking up the locket with her right hand. She thrust the hand in the air with a bit of reluctance saying, “Moon Prism Power Make Up.”

Usagi felt a strange wave of power flood trough her. It was warm and friendly and also had a strangely familiar feel to it, though she couldn’t remember ever having encountered this type of power before. The feeling lasted maybe a second or two before it faded just as quickly as it had come.

When the feeling faded she found her shirt and pants that she normally wore outside of school had been replaced by an outfit not much different than the one she wore every day at school. Except for the skirt being significantly shorter than the one that normally accompanied the Juuban Middle School uniform. She tugged the hem of it a bit, self consciously not liking having her legs so exposed.

After a second she turned her attention back to the strange black cat who hadn’t moved from her position and said “Now what?”

“Remove the tiara on your head and throw it at the youma. Yell ‘Moon Tiara Action!’” the cat explained.

Usagi, still feeling slightly foolish about the whole situation, reluctantly removed the afore mentioned tiara and followed the cat’s instructions. Throwing it in the direction of the youma. she was more than surprised when the glowing disc cut through the thick ropes holding Naru and startling the creature enough to get it to let go. Once free Naru rolled out from beneath the creature and made her way over to Usagi and the cat as quickly as her shaking legs would take her. The tiara returned to her hand and Usagi stared at it for a second before placing it back on her forehead.

“Again Sailor Moon!” the cat said.

”Sailor what?” Usagi said a tad bit confused. Who the heck was the cat referring to?

”I think she means you Usagi,” Naru quietly piped up.

“Oh,” Usagi said pausing for a second before saying, “Why didn’t she just say so..?”

Naru just give a shrug of her shoulders as Usagi removed the tiara again.

The monster seemed to have recovered from it’s initial shock. As it was starting to whip it’s rope back in their direction, just as Usagi unleashed the tiara again. Except her aim was off and it only cut a few ropes off and hit the side of its head before returning back to her head.

“Sailor Moon….” the cat seemed to have taken an exasperated tone.

“Well excuse me for not being used to throwing small, strangely magical objects at strange abnormal looking creatures.” Usagi snapped back as she aimed the tiara again, hoping she could actually do some more damage this time. Though she didn’t have a clue what would happen if it actually made full contact with the youma. She was already nervous and worried about Naru she honestly didn’t need the cat getting snarky with her.

“Moon Tiara Action!” Usagi yelled throwing it back in the direction of the youma hoping it did whatever it was supposed to. This time it made contact, and when it did it turned the strange creature into a pile of dust. This afternoon is just getting weirder and weirder, Usagi thought.

“What just happened..?” Naru said, coming over to her side wearily eyeing the pile of dust.

“Your friend here just defeated one of the many minions of the Dark Kingdom.” the cat said as a way of explanation.

“Dark Kingdom?” Usagi said in a questioning tone, shooting Naru a confused look. Naru just shrugged her shoulders, obviously just as lost to as what this mysterious Dark Kingdom was.

“A group of…creatures devoted to the destruction and submission of the human race.” the cat responded.

“Sounds like bad news.” Naru said.

“Very much so, which is why it is the duty of the sailor senshi to fight these creatures.” the cat replied to Naru’s comment.

“Wait, duty? You mean I have to fight more of those creatures?” Usagi asked wearily. Sure, she had fought this youma without any problem. But that was because Naru was in danger. Not that she wanted anyone else to be in danger, she just didn’t like the idea of fighting these strange monsters. She had already stared death in the eyes once and she was in no hurry to repeat the experience.

“Yes. You made the decision to become a sailor senshi and accepted the duties that come with it when you took the locket and transformed into Sailor Moon,” the cat explained to her.

"Decision? What decision? All you said is to take that darn locket and yell ‘Moon Prism Power Make Up!’ if I wanted to save Naru, and considering I had no clue what was going on or what could happen that’s exactly what I did!” Usagi snapped back at the cat. She wasn’t really mad, more of aggravated at having yet another thing decided without her having much input.

The cat cleared her throat before replying, “Um well there is no going back. Once you have accepted the powers by transforming into Sailor Moon there is no way to renounce your powers. Until the DarkKingdom falls you will continue to fight these monsters.”

“Great, one more thing I have to worry about.” Usagi said with an exasperated sigh throwing her hands in the air

“Usagi, we should probably get going home. Your parents are probably starting to worry,” Naru said, breaking in after a second of silence.

“True,” Usagi said, she nodded as she turned towards the cat and said, “So uh-“

“My name’s Luna,” the cat said, interrupting her, seeming to guess what her question was.

“Luna then, okay I have question. “How do I uh get out of this outfit?” Usagi asked tugging at the skirt’s hem. She really wanted to get back into her normal clothes and not have her legs exposed for the world to see.

“Oh just concentrate on what you were wearing prior to transforming. The transformation should revert you back to your normal self.” Luna explained.

Usagi did as she was instructed and let out a sigh of relief when she found herself back in her normal everyday clothes. A quick glance over told her nothing appeared to have happened to the clothes during her brief time wearing the other outfit.

“Okay so now that that is settled we should probably get going home finally.” Usagi said happily. She felt much better now that she wasn’t wearing the skirt anymore.

“That reminds me, you’ll have to convince your parents-” Luna started

“Oh no, you aren’t coming home with me.” Usagi said, cutting the cat off when she caught onto what the cat was going to say. No way was Luna going to live with her.

“What?” the cat bristled with annoyance.

“My family’s apartment complex doesn’t allow any pets. Naru do you think she can stay with you for now?” Usagi explained turning to her friend. Naru lived in a house that was also part of a shop and thus didn’t have to oblige the same rules as she did, since they didn’t have a landlord or anything of that kind to set the rules of the house.

“I don’t see why not,” Naru said after thinking for a second.

“Then it’s settled!” Usagi said with a smile.

The cat grumbled somewhat but didn’t put up much other protest realizing that it was futile. She would rather remain at the senshi’s side, but she had a feeling that if she forced them to move, she would never hear the end of it.

“We should probably get going if we don’t want your parents freaking out.” Naru said after a second.

“Oh right,” Usagi said.

“Wait one second. I still have much to explain about your duty.” Luna protested realizing that her chance to talk to the Moon Senshi was slowly slipping away.

Usagi glanced down at the cat for a second and sighed before saying, “We’ll talk tomorrow after school, okay? Mom and Dad are going to freak if I get home much later with everything that has happened recently.”

Luna seemed to be thinking about protesting, but as Usagi and Naru turned onto one of the more main streets around Juuban, the cat quieted and just followed quietly behind both girls.

_I don’t really understand why this is happening. Or why this strange, talking black cat insists that it is my destiny to fight these strange monsters that are apparently now attacking Tokyo for some reason. Honestly, I have a hard enough time with school without that bunch of strange creatures. Luna says that given some time this will hopefully become second nature for me._

_But I can’t help but be worried after everything that has been happening in the past two years. I’m just worried that something will happen to me during these fights against creatures I don’t know. And I don’t know if Mom and Dad could recover from something happening to me after losing you._

_Your big sister,_  
 _Usagi Tsukino_


	2. A Dark Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for god knows how long. You all are the best! 
> 
> Note due to the fact that this is providing some background information this chapter is much, much longer than the first.
> 
> A big thanks to Comet Moon, LoveInTheBattleField and PokemonKnight on fanfiction.net for reviewing my story. And a thanks to ofcatsandkings for replying to my story on tumblr. And to AzarathMetrionZ MoonlightDestiny010, guillermina, and PokemonKnight for putting my story on their alerts. And to the three people who put me on their author alerts (I love you guys I do, but its a bit harder to look up whose got me listed on author alert than whose got me on story alert). Oh and a huge thanks to Comet Moon (my apologies though you are going to have to wait a while for Hotaru) of course who pretty much did everything she could do as a reader a favorite, a review, and a story alert from her. You guys are the best!
> 
> And to the 90 odd people on fanfiction.net who were at least curious enough to open the story and read it! And to the unknown amount of people on tumblr who read the first chapter. Thanks!
> 
> A couple of things to note before the chapter begins. If you read it and enjoy it I would love to have just a little note. It doesn’t have to be an extremely long review or anything. Just something that indicates you guys enjoy it. The reviews, the follows, the reblogs, likes, whatever, they all are encouraging to me. Because it shows me that people are actually enjoying my work. And after being out of the writing community for over half a decade I am a bit nervous. So encouragement would be nice.
> 
> Also need to mention this. If I haven’t stated something outright yet, there is a reason for that. There are a few things I am planning to explain as we get further into the story. However I would love to see if people can figure out whats going on with certain things. I know I’m being secretive about these things so its not going to be exactly easy but if you want to give me your guess send me a PM if you’re on fanfiction.net or ask/submit me something on tumblr! I’ll be more than happy to tell you if you got it right or are on the right track.
> 
> Also one last note before I leave you to the story. This story will have new chapters twice a week. Every Monday and Friday afternoon here in the rocky mountain time in the US. What exact time it goes up will vary depending on whats going on in my life. But I am making it a goal to upload twice a week. If I miss the goal its because either life got in the way or I am still waiting on the edited version of the chapter. Usually though if I know I am going to be busy I will maybe upload a day early.
> 
> As usual I don’t own Sailor Moon they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi.
> 
> Finally a big thanks to niallcaneatmyfoodanytime, my beta, for helping me make this story presentable to the public. Wouldn't be here without you!
> 
> Now that we've gotten that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!

_Dear Shingo,_

_For the last couple of days I have been hanging out at Naru's house to try to talk with this mysterious "cat" named Luna, to try and understand what exactly she wants me to do. While I didn't exactly like being pulled into a fight with some strange alien creatures, I can live with it as long as they aren’t human. Well, I found something out that may have made the fight more difficult on a personal level..._

 

"Be glad your apartment has that restriction on it." Naru muttered to Usagi as they got out of  Luna’s hearing range one morning before school. It had now been three days since the strange creature that Luna referred to simply as a youma had attacked them and changed Usagi's life.

 

"Why?" Usagi said, tilting her head to the side in confusion. She was still getting to know the cat who was supposed to apparently act as her guide as a Sailor Senshi, but so far she hadn't seemed to bad. Other than not giving her much choice in becoming a Sailor Senshi the cat was fairly polite and overall nice to them.

 

"Because you can still get away with stuff without having someone other than your parents nagging you. I do one thing wrong and I get a lecture from her, I swear. Honestly you would think I'm Sailor Moon and not you," Naru complained.

 

Usagi tilted her head in thought, "Maybe she's just stressed? I mean, she kind of freaked out earlier this week when she found out about my various problems."

 

"True, but at least she seems to be handling that now," Naru said nodding in thought.

 

"Yeah, but I still don't think she is quite handling the whole idea of me not being entirely whole, even if she won't admit it." Usagi said, pausing for a second to think before continuing, "I'm also kind of worried what the other girls that I'm supposed to lead are going to think. I mean I have a hard enough time getting some of our classmates to take me seriously and I've known them for a year. How am I supposed to lead a group of girls I don't know into battle if they act like the rest of our classmates,"

 

"Usagi, just because some of our classmates aren't mature enough to realize certain things, doesn't mean every single person our age is going to be like that," Naru said.

 

"Naru, that's not just some of our classmates, it feels like its most of our classmates." Usagi said, giving her a disbelieving look.

 

"I think you probably have the respect of more of them then you realize," Naru argued back.

 

"Then why are they treating me that way then?" Usagi snapped in annoyance. Her lack of friendships weren't for a lack of trying. She had always been open to meeting other people since she had moved to Juuban. But the feeling wasn't always well received.

 

"Group mentality, maybe? I don't know, I wish I did." Naru admitted.

 

After a second Naru decided to change the topic to something slightly more comfortable to talk about, "So anyway, why didn't you tell Luna exactly why you weren't going to be able to come over this afternoon? I mean, you mentioned that you still had some doctor appointments, but you sure were vague about the whole thing. You know you aren't going to be able to keep hiding things from her forever."

 

Usagi made a face at the reminder of the upcoming appointment. She really disliked those. She only went to them because her parents insisted, or she would be at Naru's house. Her parents insisted she had to go no matter how many doctors she seemed to go through at the practice. The last time she had missed they hadn’t been happy. Honestly she felt she was more of an experiment for the doctors than anything and none of them seemed to care much about sorting out all of her issues. Usagi was taken out of her thoughts by Naru calling her name.

 

She turned to face her long time friend, saying: "Sorry, I was just caught up in my thoughts about the entire fiasco with the doctors there."

 

"You still don't like going to those appointments?" Naru asked, even though it wasn't much of a question.

 

"Nope. I'm not ready to drag up half of the stuff they want to know and even though this will be my fourth doctor, none of them seem to have gotten that message yet." Usagi said, her tone taking an increasingly annoyed one.

 

"Well maybe this one will be different." Naru chirped, hopeful as ever, even though she knew the odds were against them at this point.

 

Usagi let out an amused snort before responding, "Yeah right, I feel like I would need a mind reader at this point to realize my needs."

 

"And concerning Luna." Naru said, bringing the topic back to what had caused this one to come up in the first place.

 

"She already freaked out about the other issues, I didn't want to bring up that I had a whole other set of non-physical issues to deal with. I'll bring it up at another point when either she questions it, or I by some miracle find a good match for a doctor." Usagi replied to the question with her own plan.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"You want to do WHAT?" Came Luna's voice the following afternoon after the doctor's appointment.

 

"I want to tell my parents that I am a Sailor Senshi." Usagi said, slightly confused to as why the cat was so angry. If what Luna was saying was true and she may be dragged to battles at all odd hours than that would require leaving the apartment at all sorts of hours. And wasn't it better for her parents to be aware of what their daughter was doing, rather than having to draw some radical off the line conclusions?

 

Luna sat there, frowning slightly, before speaking after a few seconds thinking on what the best way to phrase it was, "Technically no one other than your fellow Senshi are supposed to know your true identity as Sailor Moon. Naru's knowledge was more of a result of forced hand, since I needed to awaken you to defeat the youma but couldn't do anything about Naru."

 

"Look, the only reason I want to tell them is because I'm afraid keeping them in the dark will just backfire on us. It's only a matter of time before they start asking questions about the odd hours I'm going to have to keep. It's best to just tell them." Usagi started her argument with.

 

"And if we do keep it a secret its only a matter of time before they catch me sneaking out to one of those late night youma battles you were talking about before. You haven't been around long enough to see but I'm not the most quiet person on the surface of the planet. If you are right about the odd hour attacks, than sooner or later it will lead to me getting caught sneaking out, which would lead to a whole other set of trouble. Sneaking out of an apartment isn't exactly as easy as sneaking out of say a house." Usagi pointed out.

 

"Yeah, sneaking around is not a specialty of Usagi's." Naru piped up in support of Usagi for the first time since Usagi proposed the idea.

 

Luna's tail twitched from side to side as she gave the idea some thought. In all reality, she truly didn't like the idea of three non-essential people being knowledgeable of Usagi's Senshi identity. She had been instructed by Central to keep as little people from getting directly involved with the battle with the Dark Kingdom and for good reasons.

 

But even though she hated to have to admit it, the fourteen-year-old did have a point. With Usagi living in an apartment and with her condition getting out of the apartment unnoticed by her family would be an extremely difficult task. So maybe it would be best to allow one exception to the normal and allow the girl to tell her family about her Senshi duties.

 

However there was the case of Naru. Usagi was insistent that it was best to keep the girl she was now being forced to live with knowledgeable of the situation and not use Luna's abilities to remove the memories involving Usagi's defeat of the youma. This had resulted in a long audacious argument that Usagi had somehow managed to win, resulting in the decision of letting Naru keep her memories.

 

They had eventually come to a short term deal concerning the subject, since neither were really willing to budge on their stance. Leading to Naru of all people drawing a truce between the two. The deal for now was that Naru would retain her memories about Usagi's secret identity, but once the chance for Luna to live with Usagi as she was intended to from the start opened up again, they would revisit the idea. Though Luna figured that Usagi would probably be just as stubborn about the subject God knows how many months down the road as she was now.

 

Luna spoke again after a second more of thought, "I'll have to consult with my fellow guardian before we make a final decision on this. I will get back to you as soon as possible. But I don't want anyone else besides Naru and your family becoming knowledgeable of your identity as a Senshi. It can become a danger to not just yourself but also to those knowledgeable of your identity."

 

"Fair enough." Usagi said after a second, shrugging her shoulders. She really didn't plan to tell anyone else that wasn't directly involved with this odd mess, but if she changed her mind she would keep Luna's request in mind.

 

"You know Luna, you said on Tuesday that it was only a short matter of time before we would start to see more enemies like the one that attacked us. So why haven't we seen one?" Usagi asked, changing the subject to a mystery she had been thinking about for the last day or so.

 

"My only explanation to why we haven't seen more of the enemy is that the Dark Kingdom aren't yet aware of the loss of their agent. Either that or they are confused as to how their agent was defeated by some humans and haven't figured out that the Sailor Senshi are back" Luna said.

 

"Oh, I guess that makes sense in a way.” Usagi said in response, before asking, "Hey Luna, what exactly is the Dark Kingdom?"

 

"It's complicated. The Dark Kingdom has existed for a very, very long time. Longer than any of your modern history books record back to. Technically I'm not supposed to speak of this until we gather more of your fellow Senshi, Usagi." Luna said pausing for a second only to pick up again when she saw the face the girl was making, "However, if it will help convince you to take up the fight and to understand the enemy, I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain what I remember."

 

"What you remember?" Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

"As far as I can gather it's been at least a thousand years since the Moon Kingdom-" Luna started only to be interrupted by both girls this time.

 

"THE WHAT?!" both girls said loudly.

 

Luna winced at the volume both girls produced and waited to make sure they weren't going to say anything before continuing, "I sometimes forget that somehow we were lost in time. I personally blame the Terran’s want to strike the black spot on their history from the record, for the loss of any record of the kingdom in this day and age."

 

After a second of silence Luna continued, "But yes, once upon a time there was a Moon Kingdom. As far as I can remember it has been at least a thousand years since it fell and I was put in a dormant sleep to only be awakened when the Dark Kingdom rose again. So yes, there are going to be some holes in my memory."

 

"By your current time keeping system, I would say our first recorded encounter with the Dark Kingdom was about somewhere between eight to ten thousand years ago. That was when they came to the Moon Kingdom-," Luna explained.

 

"Wait, so you're saying that once upon a time there was life on the moon," Naru asked, being the first of the two girls to find her voice.

 

"Not just the moon, once upon a time all of what you refer to as planets and then some other extraterrestrial objects had life on it. You see, back in my day, by the Alliance's definition there were a total of nine major planets and four minor planets that were part of the alliance. Earth would have been classified as a major planet if it ever had joined the alliance, since they had an equivalent of what was needed to be classed as a major planet. But the rocky relationship between the Terran and Lunar royalty over the years prevented that from ever happening. Pluto and the moon were major planets according to the Alliance's definition and three of what I believe you refer to now as asteroids along with the dwarf planet Ceres were classified as minor planets."  Luna explained.

 

"What exactly did you guys actually use as a classification? And for that matter what the heck is this 'Alliance' you keep mentioning?" Usagi wondered out loud.

 

"Whether or not your planet had a Sailor Senshi was how the classification worked. If you had a Sailor Senshi or had something equivalent such as Earth would have had, you were classified as a major planet. If your planet hadn't developed to the point that it had a Sailor Senshi than you were classified as a minor planet. The three planetary bodies you now refer to as asteroids along with Ceres were on their way to finally having their own Sailor Senshi back in my time. Unfortunately it never actually happened due to the fall of the Moon Kingdom and the Silver Alliance." Luna explained.

 

She chose to pause for a second before continuing: "As for what the Alliance was, it was an Alliance much similar to what the Americans had with the Europeans prior to World War II. Also in the same vain in a way of the United Nations. It's full name was the Silver Alliance and it mainly consisted of the major planets, with some allies from neighboring systems that we were on good terms with. The Alliance was meant to help keep the peace between not only the planets, but the nearby solar systems too. It worked rather well, until around two thousand years ago."

 

"Oh, okay," Usagi said with a shrug before saying, "So, the Dark Kingdom?"

 

"Right. As I said, before our first actual contact with the Dark Kingdom dates back several thousands of years, as far as I can tell, to when the Silver Alliance was just beginning to form. Back in those days the Dark Kingdom went by the name of Imoo Kingdom. They were a race that lived on the edge of the system notorious for their barbaric practices. In order to survive they would drain other planets of their life forces until the planets were barren. Their then Queen Amethyst contacted the then queen of the moon, Queen Selene in hopes of joining the newly formed Silver Alliance. At the time they were hunting what I believe you now refer to as the Kuiper Belt, in hopes of finding an inhabitable planet for a new world to live on. As the last planet they lived on had been wiped out by a dying star ironically." Luna explained.

 

"However, Queen Selene and her fellow rulers from the major planets were against the race's practices at the moment. She believed that they had the potential to eventually evolve to the point where they were still draining energy but didn't kill of their host. She made the decision to wait out until the race evolved to that point. She politely told the then Queen Amethyst that while they did not feel the kingdom was quite ready to join the alliance at that time, she said to reapply further down the road again." Luna continued pausing again for breath.

 

"The then queen of the Dark Kingdom however took personal offense at the choice to not accept them into the Alliance and declared the Moon Kingdom and the other members of the Alliance  their enemies. Queen Selene didn’t want trouble, did nothing to deter them and left them to be on their own, except for the occasional letter to see if they were in need of anything. However she would never hear from the kingdom again in her lifetime. And as time passed, the Dark Kingdom became a distant memory, forgotten by most of the planets' commoners. It wasn't until the last Queen of the moon's time that we heard from them again." Luna said.

 

"The then queen of the Dark Kingdom, Queen Metalia, approached Queen Serenity once again in hopes of joining the Silver Alliance. Details get a bit sketchy from there, but we do know the talks dissolved along the way and the Dark Kingdom eventually declared war on the entire Silver Alliance." Luna explained. In truth, she did know more of what had happened during those proceedings, but they had not been pretty and she felt it was best to withhold the information from both girls until a later date.

 

"The Silver Alliance, very self assured in its own power, underestimated the power of the Dark Kingdom, which had grown greatly since the time of Queen Selene. And this would turn out to be the downfall as one of the contributing factors in the eventual fall of the Silver Alliance. As the Dark Kingdom would turn to the people of Earth, who were jealous of the other planets and their people. Combing this strength with their own and recruiting some of the Terran's strongest warriors, they were able to bring down the Silver Alliance." Luna said, drawing the story to a conclusion at long last.

 

"But wait, you told me none of the creatures working for this Dark Kingdom were human in any shape or form." Usagi said, after a few minutes of trying to digest all of the information they were just handed.

 

"Once upon a time, a couple of thousand years back, when the Dark Kingdom first took down the Silver Alliance and Queen Serenity was able to send some into a deep sleep and others in the future there were, yes. However no human can live that long, all Terrans who acted as warriors for the Dark Kingdom should have passed. There should not be any complete humans left working for them at this point." Luna said her tail beginning to twitch again at the prospect of Usagi's reaction. The girl had made it very clear from day one that she did not want to go around killing humans and that those monsters better not be even part human.

 

"Complete humans?" Usagi said, her tone leaving no room for jokes .

 

"According to intelligence I have received occasionally, there have been some overly powerful youma that have possessed humans before. But usually a good attack or two takes care of the problem without too many problems to the host." Luna explained.

 

"You know one thing I find confusing Luna, is the fact that we've never even heard of this during our lives. If this all happened you would think there would be some records in some form, but there is nothing written about this in our history books," Naru said after a second in a confused tone, changing the subject from the slightly uncomfortable topic it was headed towards.

 

"History has long been written by the victors, Naru. Even back in the time of the alliance this was true. Though the royal family probably would have liked to have forgotten, many of the Terran's commoners were directly involved with the Dark Kingdom. And let us not forget the Shitennou whose only superiors power wise were the royalty. They eventually went to work for the Dark Kingdom. And if my memory isn't failing me, they were a huge factor in the fall of the Alliance." Luna said with a sigh.

 

Usagi spoke up again using a hesitant tone, "If there are any complete humans working for the Dark Kingdom, will we be able to save them at all?"

 

"As of right now, no. You don't have that kind of capability to do anything like that, Usagi. Your superior, the Moon Princess when she awakens, will have the capacity to, but it may take a while too. For now you'll have to take what you can." Luna said.

 

"No, that's not acceptable. I won't allow there to be any more victims! Not if I have any say in it will there be!" Usagi exclaimed loudly.

 

"Usagi, you’ve got to understand from a realistic standpoint, that may not be possible to happen every single time you fight. There are days where you may have to accept what you were able to accomplish and those who you were able to save from being attacked by the enemy." Luna tried to reason with the girl.

 

"No, I won't accept it. I won't allow another person to die in front of me!" Usagi said, her volume getting louder and her voice sounding more hysterical by the second.

 

"Usagi..." Naru began quietly.

 

The girl didn't let either of them say anything else choosing to grab her bag and race out the door. Naru stayed for a second before glancing at Luna and then grabbing her own bag and following her friend.

 

"I understand her sensitivity to wanting to spare the least amount of people as humanly possible. But she seems to take it too extreme." Luna said with a sigh, staring at the door which both girls had left through.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Usagi sniffled a bit as she continued to walk down the block. She had calmed down some after her conversation with Luna, but was still upset. She just couldn't comprehend the idea of having to fight creatures that were once upon a time human, or currently human. Sure, she hadn't liked the idea of fighting the creatures in  the first place, but now...

 

Usagi sighed after a second. Luna had been rather insistent over the last couple of days that it was her destiny to fight these strange creatures. And she had kind of accepted the destiny that had been forced upon her at first. But now she wasn't so sure.

 

"You okay, odango?" she heard a slightly masculine voice say.

 

"Don't call me odango!" Usagi said rounding, thinking it was the same boy from the other day when she had first met Luna. Then blinked in surprise when a different person greeted her.

 

"Whoa easy there. Sorry, didn't mean to offend you." the boy said holding his hands up in a defensive manner. Unlike the boy from the other day he had short, dirty blond hair that came to his chin, with emerald green eyes. He was maybe a year or so older than her, if Usagi had to guess.

 

"No it's all right. I thought you were someone else." Usagi said giving a shy smile.

 

"Would hate to be him at the moment." the guy joked.

 

"As long you don't call me odango again, you're okay," Usagi assured.

 

"Okay, then I'll try to remember that but if I can't call you odango, I'm going to need your actual name." he said.

 

"Usagi, Usagi Tsukino. What's yours?" Usagi chirped, a bit more friendly now that they had moved on past the subject of that nickname.

 

"Haruka Tenoh." he said, taking the hand and shaking it.

 

Usagi was about to say something, when a shout interrupted her train of thoughts, "Usagi!"

 

Both her and Haruka turned to see Naru finally catching up with Usagi. Once she caught up she paused for a second to catch her breath before continuing, "So this where you took off too."

 

"Uh yeah, her comments upset me so I just needed some air. Must have gone further from your house than I realized." Usagi said sheepishly, scratching the back of her head, being carefully ambiguous about how she referred to Luna in Haruka's presence.

 

"Yeah, I could see that," Naru said glancing at the guy for a second before changing the subject, "So whose your new friend?"

 

"Oh uh, this is Haruka Tenoh, though I'm not sure friend is the right word. We just met. Haruka this is my childhood friend Naru Osaka," Usagi said.

 

"Pleasure." Naru said politely, taking the outstretched hand to shake.

 

"Likewise." Haruka responded.

 

"Usagi, we should get going. If we don't get going home soon your parents will start wondering where you are." Naru said, giving Usagi's shirt a tug.

 

"You're right, of course. Nice meeting you Haruka-san." Usagi said with a slight bow in farewell.

 

"Likewise. Though if you want, I can give you both a ride. My car's a couple of blocks away from here." Haruka said, extending an offer.

 

"Yes-" Naru started just as Usagi said "No-"

 

Haruka looked at both girls with a raised eyebrow. Usagi chose to speak first, "No. I appreciate the offer, but my parents would freak if they saw me coming home riding in some stranger's car. No offense."

 

Naru mumbled a bit, but didn't really raise much of a protest. She knew Usagi was right as much as she didn't want to admit it.

 

"None taken. Then maybe I'll see you around?" Haruka asked.

 

"Yeah, see you around." Usagi said with a friendly chirp before both girls turned to head off in the direction of the apartment. Haruka watched them disappear, still trying to put a finger on the familiarity he felt towards Usagi, before turning to head off in his own direction after they had disappeared from view.

 

_I guess I kind of understand where Luna is coming from. But at the same time it's hard to admit what may have to happen to defeat this enemy._

_All I can think is that these humans probably have some family somewhere. Who love and care for them. Like our parents do. And the thought that I may take them away for the 'greater good' scares me._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this marks the end of chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it.


	3. A Fortunate Future?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off I want to start off with an important notice. If you have not read chapter two, go back and do so immediately. Starting with this chapter, the story will start to build extremely on what I've mentioned in other chapters. In order to prevent yourself from being lost you need to read every chapter in the order they were published.
> 
> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain things in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping to point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> A bit of an unusual shout out here. I want to thank Junk Box 99 of the NaNoWriMo forums for doing the actual tarot card reading one of the scenes in this chapter is based on. He was a huge help in making sure that I got that scene done right!
> 
> As usual I don't own Sailor Moon they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi.
> 
> Finally a big thanks to niallcaneatmyfoodanytime, my beta, for helping me make this story presentable to the public. Wouldn't be here without you!
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

_Dear Shingo,_

_Over the past two years, since everything happened I've been told many things repeatedly. But two of them stick out the most;_

_One of course being the famous phrase that time heals all wounds. But two years later and the wounds still feel fresh. The hurt, the loss, it's all here even though it's been two years._

_The other is that those that you truly love never leave you. I always felt like it was a bunch of baloney. But today something occurred that made me bring that belief into question..._

The following afternoon saw an awkward situation going on at Naru's house. Usagi and Luna were still at odds of how the Dark Kingdom's quasi-humans should be handled. And neither were really willing to budge on their stance.

 

Naru was the one who finally broke the silence wanting to address something that she had noticed at the school, "Hey Luna?"

 

"Yes?" Luna turning to look at Naru from her position on the windowsill.

 

"I was wondering about something you said a couple of days ago concerning the victims of the Dark Kingdom. You said that there would be symptoms that would make it easier for Usagi to identify those being used by the Kingdom?" Naru said.

 

"Ah yes. Well according to observations from prior encounters with the Dark Kingdom, most humans being used by them exhibit certain traits. Usually those being targeted by them show several different symptoms. But the most common are unusual amounts of aggressiveness, rapid changes in personality, they are easy to anger, having a sudden brashness and courage where not normal, and being flat out character. These are just a sampling of the symptoms that most present with. However they are also the most common ones to present." Luna said.

 

"You're thinking about how some of the boys in class were behaving earlier today, aren't you Naru?" Usagi asked, looking up from some of the homework her and Naru had been working on.

 

"Yeah. I've never known Umino-kun to act the way he was today during the few years I have known him. And him along with some of the other boys were definitely presenting it. I mean he's usually so shy." Naru responded.

 

"Is that true, Usagi?" Luna asked, turning to the girl for the first time that afternoon.

 

"I guess. I'm not that close to Umino, but I guess he has been acting odd lately." Usagi said absent mindedly. chewing on the eraser of her pencil. Of all the boys in her class she was on the best terms with Umino. However, they weren't exactly close or anything.

 

"Okay, so if you believe that there may be some concern for enemy involvement then we should investigate. Now I need you to think hard, the Dark Kingdom has an MO of sort. They will usually open a new store under a disguise of using it to steal energy. Usually it will sell cheap products or extremely popular products. These stores will get popular almost overnight. Can either of you think of something that might match this description?" Luna asked.

 

There was a pause for a second as both girls racked their brains trying to come up with something. Usagi was the first to speak with some hesitance, "Well, technically it's not a store but it did seem to have popped up overnight and got popular just as quickly."

 

Luna's tail twitched for a second seeming to think about it for a second before saying, "Well it's not very common but they have used non-store fronts before. What is it you are thinking of?"

 

"There's this new fortune telling place that opened up not far from our school. Just in the last few days really. I heard some of the other girls talking about going there. We never went but just heard of it being talked about." Usagi explained.

 

"Sounds like it could be one of their fronts. Try to find out where it is tomorrow at school. I'll meet you two after school tomorrow and then we'll head over to this new fortune telling place. You are too new to your powers to be able to sense even the minimal amount of signature of the Dark Kingdom. So I'll be the only one to tell whether or not this is a new front of theirs or not," Luna explained.

 

_SCENE_

 

The following afternoon both girls got out of school, Luna was perched up on the school gate's wall waiting for them. She didn't say anything, of course. She was just trailing behind them as they both headed in the direction of which they had been pointed in when they’d asked about the fortune telling shop.

 

"Wow, its gaudy." was Usagi's first reaction to the shop as they got to the front of it. It was maybe a story tall and the front was decorated in a manner that made her think of the palaces in India more than anything.

 

"Maybe to you. But apparently it appeals to everyone else." they heard an older male voice say, breaking both girls out of their thoughts.

 

They turned around and saw an old man running a simple enough fortune stand. It was a small table with a chair on one side with a cloth draped over it. A card of decks was sat on the side of the table, obviously waiting for it to be used on a customer. Usagi was the first to respond, "Oh I've seen you before in passing! But normally your line's around the block! Where are all your normal customers?"

 

"Well with the new store across the street business has gone down some. Most people prefer fancier, newer, prettier things to simplistic things like my offerings." he responded.

 

"That's kind of sad." Naru said, frowning a bit. How could faithful customers just abandon their usual business in favor of prettier things?

 

"But the inevitable truth. I am going to have to find a new place to set up shop now that everyone here has the Fortune House to go to. An old man like myself with my simplistic shop simply can't keep up with the likes of their shop." he said.

 

"That's a shame." Usagi said, thinking about the times she had seen the line going around the block to get their fortune read by the old man. Absent mindedly she began digging through her pockets looking for a wallet. If he was as good as she used to hear then maybe hearing a fortune from him one time before he left wouldn't hurt. Finally finding the darn object she put down some yen and asked for a fortune reading.

 

"Well, let's see what we have here." the man said giving her a smile. He pulled out a rather large deck of cards and placed it on the center of the table.

 

"If you would please, shuffle the cards nine times while thinking of a question you would like to answer; then hand them to me." He explained her handing the deck over.

"Nine?" Usagi said in a questioning voice, wondering about the number in a way while accepting the deck.

  
"It has to do with mathematics and randomization. We'll be here all night if I have to explain," He seemed on the verge of an embarrassed chuckle.  
  
The Tarot deck was awkward and unfamiliar in her hands, being much larger than average playing cards, and much thicker. She thought there were an awful lot of cards.  
  
"This particular layout, the Celtic Cross, is a fairly common one." He said as he laid out ten cards in a strange pattern that was kind of like a wheel? She had never had a reading before so she noticed that he frowned when he seemed to notice something in the cards that was off the bat, but didn't actually say anything about them yet.  
  
Her eyebrows went up in surprise when he lay the last card down, two additional cards seemed to come out on their own accord. Seeing her expression he said, "Please... leave them there. Sometimes these volunteers have something to add to the story."  
  
Usagi just shrugged in response. She knew nothing about these kind of readings so she trusted the man for this kind of things.  
  
"The Lovers suggests a partnership, or very close friendship. Two of swords... impaled on the horns of a dilemma, all options seem to be bad ones." He explained to her. He pointed to the left side group going clockwise from the bottom, while explaining what the cards meant..  
  
From there he pointed to the third card, at the bottom. "This place is the Distant past, the root of the condition. I take the three of swords to mean that something very bad happened between the partners, quite possibly the thing that turned them on their heads."  
  
He pointed at another card on the far left. "And this indicates it is in the recent past. This card is the Nine of Swords and is referred to by many nicknames. Most often it is referred to as the card of nightmares, of frightening suspicions and misery that haunt you.   
  
He pointed towards the top of the cards. "The Five of Cups has been called the 'drowning your sorrows card,' but I feel a better way to describe it is 'drowning *in* your sorrows. All you can do is look at the ruins at your feet, and not notice that there is still a path for you."  
  
He moved onto another card, "This is likely to happen, something that is out of anyone's control. The Ten of Swords is worrisome... sometimes I feel it's more of a literal death than the Death Card itself. Something bad. Yes, it really is that bad."  
  
He then moved over to the right hand columns of the cards, starting from the bottom card as his next set of explanations, "The card to describe you at the moment is the Eight of Swords... so many swords! Entrapment. You feel as if everyone is against you right now, that everywhere you try to look there is no help, that your hands are tied, and the storm is closing in. Different parts of these images call to me... this one points out that even though this woman is blindfolded and her hands are tied, her feet are not bound. She can still move."  
  
He didn't waste long moving onto the next card, "Next up, In your environment, the Eight of Cups. I've seen this one enough times when someone said 'Screw this, I'm outta here!' Often suggests turning away from a path or situation to look for a new one."  
  
He went onto the next card only second from the top, "The Devil, Reversed like this, and in the Hopes and Fears position..."

 

He paused for a moment seeming to consider his next words, "The Devil, upright, is about The Monkey Trap, unable to let go of something that looks like a good thing, but unfortunately leads to destruction. Inverted..."

 

At this point she noticed he glanced back and forth across the cards, seeming to notice something within the pattern that went straight over her head. He then said, "It means that there is hope that by letting go and walking away, the pain will be released or the problem solved, or at least the difficulty will ease."  
  
He moved onto the last card of the group. This one had drawn her attention from the beginning being completely blank unlike the other cards that had decorative designs on them. He explained the card a bit differently this time, "The blank card is not a common or official card in most decks, but I find it very useful. The outcome of your question is something I am not meant to see, understand, or know. I will not ask, please do not mention it."   
  
And he turned his attention to the two cards that had seemed to come out on their own abode. The loose cards, the ones he called volunteers, turned out to be ones . "A great change, and studious, focused activity. Each leads to the other... but where does it start?"

Usagi found the whole experience a bit shaking. Some of it hit a bit closer to home than she would admit to anyone, though Naru probably picked up on some of it judging by the looks she kept shooting her. She forked out a thousand yen bill from her wallet and handed it over. She stood up and gave a slight bow saying, "Thank you so much for your time."

 

"Not a problem. Hope this may have given you some insight into something." he responded, giving her a bright smile.

 

"Yeah sure." Usagi said, giving another smile that really didn't reach her eyes before turning and the three of them left the alley.

_SCENE_

 

An hour or so later saw both girls having made no actual progress. Though Usagi had been shaken a bit by the reading, much to Luna's annoyance.

 

"You never should have asked him for that reading." Luna snapped eventually as the trio watched people come in and out.

 

"I was just trying to be nice." Usagi responded.

 

"Yes well, our first priority should always be the mission." Luna said, her tone taking an aggravated turn rather quickly. As she began to lecture Usagi on her duties as a Senshi for what felt like the thousandth time this week. Usagi tuned her out like she had gotten used to.

 

What had the old man meant by some of the same things he had said during the reading, she couldn't help but wonder. She guessed there could be different meanings behind the reading, depending on how she personally interpreted the cards’ meaning. And she had never been much of a superstitious person, but some of the things he had said had made the whole thing kind of eery and the suggestions he had made in the simple sentences had gotten her wondering.

 

"Usagi, Usagi!" the aggravated sound of Luna's voice brought her out of her train of thought again.

 

"Sorry Luna. I completely missed what you just said." she told the cat.

 

Luna glared at her for a second in aggravation before repeating what she had just said, "I was saying that the best way to investigate them and see whether or not they are a Dark Kingdom host, is to pose as a customer."

 

"But what if they try to use me like they did with our classmates." Usagi said, though reluctantly agreeing with Luna's reasoning in her head they were still some holes in their plan. As she was the only Senshi to have been awakened so far. If she was taken over by the enemy they would be screwed.

 

"The locket you use to transform into Sailor Moon is more than just an item to channel your abilities. It also protects you from the type of spells most minions of the Dark Kingdom put on those they are attempting to manipulate." Luna explained.

 

"Really, how cool." Usagi said, taking a second glance at the locket that she wore on a chain around her neck.

 

"But just for some additional protection I have one more item to give you." Luna said. She did a back flip similar to the one she had done when she and Usagi had first met and awakened. Unlike the locket from before, a small pen with a crystal on top popped out.

 

Usagi picked up the item with a bit of hesitance. After the last item the cat had 'gifted', she was a little weary towards anything the cat gave her. After a second of examining it and realizing it appeared to be just a plain pen she turned to the cat and asked, "So what does it do?"

 

"It's a transformation pen. It can change you to anything you want within reason." Luna explained.

 

"Really?" Usagi asked, turning to look at the cat with surprise.

 

"Yes, but it's only temporary, lasting maybe an hour or two tops. But it's perfect for sneaking in to try and find out about the enemy, like now. To activate it you must say: "Luna pen, transform me into 'insert whatever you wish to transform into'." Luna explained.

 

Usagi examined the pen once again and seeing nothing particularly harmful about this object she decided to put her faith in Luna one more time. She stuck the pen in the air as she had been instructed and said, "Luna Pen, transform me into a hip looking high school girl."

 

Usagi felt a power wash over that had the same feel to it as the one she had felt when she had transformed into Sailor Moon for the first time a few days ago. When it faded she could tell that not only had her hair length changed but the clothes she had been wearing too.

 

"Great what is with your objects having obsessions with skirts," Usagi complained as she subconsciously began pulling on the hem of the skirt the pen had provided. At least it wasn't as short as the skirt she wore as a Sailor Senshi, coming in just below her knees versus the Senshi skirt falling above the knees. But still, in the end she still preferred pants any day, since it made her feel less like she was showing all of her problems off to the world.

 

Though as she took a closer look she realized that the same illusion that surrounded her whenever she was transformed apparently also worked with this item. She could live with that. Hey, maybe she could even-no wait that wouldn't work. Everyone at school knew what she looked like and it would look just plain odd to suddenly have something there where it wasn't prior.

 

"-of course the item is limited to mission use only." she caught the tail end of Luna's lecture.

 

"Yeah, yeah I get it," Usagi replied, putting the pen back into her bag before turning to the two, "So I just go in posing as a customer, see what the potential enemy is doing, and then get out, right?"

 

"Correct. We'll wait for you here. Try to remember everything you see. The more details we have the better." Luna said.

 

"All right, all right. I'm going," Usagi said, trying to reassure the cat while worrying about how well she would actually retain the information that Luna was asking for.

 

_SCENE_

 

Usagi was able to get into the shop without any problems. She glanced around somewhat; the walls were fairly plain compared to the outside decor, the walls were painted in a solid color with the only real decorations being signs that pointed her in the direction of the fortune teller. 

Though there was no mention of any other fortune tellers, which was interesting since considering how large it appeared on the outside you would think they would have enough room to host multiple fortune tellers. But then again, if Luna was right and that whoever ran this was an agent of the Dark Kingdom, than she guessed they wouldn't want anyone going to other fortune tellers so it did make sense in that aspect.

 

It didn't take long for Usagi to find the end of the line. Usagi let out a low whistle at the length. It looked like it was at least hundred people deep. She wondered if she really had enough time to stand in line without getting in trouble with her parents who, despite her insistence to inform them of her extracurricular activities, had yet to be informed of her activities. She hoped Luna would allow her to inform them of the whole thing soon.

 

It turned out her fears were for not though, as the line moved at a surprisingly fast clip. Judging by her phone clock she was maybe in line for half an hour at most before she was maybe two, three people from the front. She wondered how efficient this lady was compared to the old man who had done her reading earlier, his reading had taken maybe five minutes tops and she was moving at a much faster clip with her clients then he had with her. But if Luna was right then Usagi guessed it didn't matter how long it took for her to complete her task, as long as it was done.

 

This tarot card reader was vastly different from the old man across the street. She was young and still beautiful, which probably explained the sudden attraction to the new shop, if she wasn't the enemy. At first glance nothing screamed unnatural like the youma from a few days ago had, but Luna had mentioned that the Dark Kingdom's agents were some of the most masterful disguisers there were. And if that was true, then her task probably wouldn't take long at all.

 

She nervously took the seat across from the woman when motioned to. The women gave her a reassuring smile as she dealt the deck out not bothering to hand it over to her like the old man had, in order for her to cut the deck. Maybe tarot card readers’ techniques varied from person to person? She wasn't sure. The old man's reading had been her first ever tarot card reading, so it wasn't like she had much experience to go on.

 

She had seen some of the women's work from the side while waiting in line but hadn't exactly had the best view. This person chose to do a circle pattern with a single card in the middle instead of the strange pattern the old man had, called a Celtic Cross. Usagi briefly wondered if the patterns had different meanings, before pushing the thought out of her mind. She needed to concentrate on possibly identifying this as a enemy hangout.

 

She didn't say anything, yet doing a rather weird trick by blowing and causing the cards to flip over to reveal the different designs on them. She recognized a couple from the old mans reading, but most of them were too different for her to recognize. The woman finally chose this moment to speak by simply saying: "Look into my eyes."

 

Usagi said a mental prayer that the magic that was supposedly surrounding the items that Luna had given her, actually prevented enemy mind tricks like they were supposed to and followed her command. She didn't say anything again yet simply tilting her head to the side for some reason and Usagi felt this strange compulsion to do the same.

 

Usagi nearly broke eye contact with her when the central card decided to start glowing purple at random. Okay, something really isn't right here, she thought as she fought to keep a straight face as the card came to her eye level. Well, there was no doubt in her mind that it was the enemy now. She may not know a whole lot about tarot card reading, but she was pretty darn sure that normal readings didn't include the cards deciding to glow purple and float mid air.

 

"You will make a wonderful servant of evil." the woman finally spoke again, nearly causing Usagi to jump out of her chair. Okay, that she was for sure not supposed to be part of a reading. Her first instinct was to say screw this and flee from there at this moment. But she managed to fight it down. She decided to put her faith in Luna just this once. Even if her faith towards the cat was very minor at the moment.

 

"You can do whatever you desire." were the next words out of the mouth's voice. Yeah, no thanks Usagi thought, if it involved working for someone who was out to destroy humanity like Luna claimed, then she would rather pass on the sudden boost of confidence. She managed to keep a straight face when the card suddenly flew into her suitcase. As weirded out by all of this as she was, she had come too far on this odd mission to mess up now.

 

The woman didn't bother to actually do a reading, like the old man had, much to Usagi's annoyance. If she was going to wait in line for an hour, she should at least get a proper reading, shouldn't she? But if it was the enemy, maybe they didn't know the reading because they didn't feel the need to learn the art? Usagi, eager to get her butt out of the building, swung her suitcase over her backpack and made a quick beeline for the exit.

 

_SCENE_

 

Luna and Naru were exactly where she had left them before entering the Fortune House, when she finally got out.

 

"Well?" came Luna's impatient voice when they got off the main street. Her tail twitching in annoyance.

 

"Well she definitely is an enemy." Usagi confirmed, pulling out the card from her suitcase and holding it for both to see. Handing it over to Naru she continued, "The thing glowed dark purple and floated in the air while she tried to put some sort of weird spell on me to become a minion of evil. I may not know much about tarot cards but I am almost positive they aren't supposed to do that."

 

"Yes, this reeks of the Dark Kingdom." Luna said, examining the card that Naru had put down on the ground.

 

"The Dark Kingdom minions have a destinct smell?" Naru asked curiously.

 

"Not a smell, but an aura. The Dark Kingdom and its minions have an unusual aura. Usagi’s, as she gets more accustomed, aura should be able to detect them at larger levels. Which is a problem, since they've gotten good at disguising theirs over the years, so sometimes it’s hard to detect. Other times they are lazy and don't really bother disguising it. This is a prime example of the latter. Though we won't be seeing much of these, as they begin to realize the Sailor Senshi are reawakening." Luna explained.

 

"Hey Luna," Usagi said after a second of silence.

 

"Yes, Usagi?" Luna asked.

 

"My classmates. The ones that were possessed by the fake fortune teller. How do we break the spell on them?" Usagi asked.

 

"Defeat the youma." Luna said, saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She paused for a second before continuing, "If you destroy the source of the spell, in this case the youma, the spell will be broken and your classmates will return to normal."

 

"Okay then, I guess I have a youma to defeat." Usagi said giving a tight smile. She wasn't sure if she would ever be comfortable with the whole idea of being a soldier of love and justice. But if it broke her classmates out of whatever weird trance they were stuck in, then sure, she would fight this enemy.

 

She moved both arms out to her side. Not enough so they were sticky out fully, just enough that she could move them up easily at a diagonal. She moved her hands up and over the locket that hung over her neck calling the transformation phrase that Luna had been drilling into her head for the last few days: "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

 

Like the first time she had transformed a few days ago, she felt that strangely familiar, yet at the same time foreign feeling, flood trough her as her day clothes changed to her Sailor Senshi uniform. She still didn't like the ridiculous skirt that came with the uniform. But since the transformation seemed to hide the biggest issue of why she normally wore pants, she could live with the uniform she guessed.

"Perfect, now let's go after that youma." Luna said.

 

"Uh Luna, slight problem." Usagi said after a second.

 

"Huh, what's wrong?" Luna asked.

 

"How do we get in? If we go in through the front entrance, then we are going to be stuck in line for God knows how long! And we really can't go in through the front anyway, going in like this is basically announcing to the world that we’re there to beat them." Usagi said

 

"You think we’ve just been sitting around for an hour?" Luna snapped annoyed before continuing, "No! While you were in there we looked for alternate entrances, so we wouldn't have to go through the front entrance!"

 

"Oh, all right, then lead the way!" Usagi said, pointing in the direction of the Fortune House.

 

_SCENE_

 

"Stop right there!" Usagi yelled into the back doorway of the fortune house a few minutes later. It had been surprisingly easy to get to the back door for a lair of a bad guys.

 

"Why would I?" the woman fortune teller said, turning to face her from her sitting position.

 

"Because otherwise you'll face the wrath of the pretty suited soldier of love and justice. It is my duty as the Sailor Senshi of the Moon to punish wrong doers such as yourself for the good of everyone!" Usagi said, going with extinct, not even sure where the lecture came from. Like everything else weird that had happened since Luna had invaded her life it just felt like it was what she was supposed to say to the youma.

 

Why did so many of these things seem to happen? When it came to her being a Sailor Senshi she had no clue, but at this point it was just best to go with the flow she guessed.

 

"Never heard of you!" the woman snapped, transforming from her normal form, finally realizing Usagi was a threat, into her true youma form. Her skin darkened from the pale complexion it had been just a few minutes previous, into dark brown color and seemed to stretch to the point of almost physical impossible. Her eyes turned black and her pupils became yellow for some reason. Though probably her weirdest feature was her head, which reminded Usagi of some Greek mythological creature, whose name was currently escaping her, as her hair had turned to snakes.

 

"Minions, attack her!" the youma commanded. The various victims attacked her at a fast pace.

Usagi began dodging the various zombie like people, wondering how she was going to get enough room to launch an attack at the youma. Her problem was solved when she suddenly heard a sharp noise and the zombies came to an immediate halt. Not sure why it happened or what may have caused it, but not wanting to question the sudden change in luck she reached up for her tiara. The youma was on the move again, but the zombies hadn't returned to normal yet, so she launched her tiara out, yelling the now becoming familiar attack: "Moon Tiara Action!"

 

She let out a sigh of relief when the tiara took out the youma. Looks like that disc throwing, that Luna had insisted she start doing to learn how to aim the tiara, was paying off. She froze though, when she felt someone new not too far from her. She was surprised to realize it wasn't one of the possessed patrons, or even Luna, but rather some guy dressed in a tuxedo.

 

She realized that he may have done whatever it was that caused the patrons to come to a halt. After a second of silence she spoke, "Uh thank you. I'm guessing you were the one that was able to distract the patrons long enough so I could launch my attack at a youma."

 

"Yes. I'm glad I could be of some assistance, even if I wasn't able to locate the item I was searching for." he responded to her question.

 

"Item?" Usagi said in a questioning tone, tilting her head to the side slightly to think. Maybe he meant her transformation broach? But then, it was here so that would make the sentence null and void so that didn't make sense. But what could he be looking for then, at an area where the enemy was hanging out then?

 

"Yes, there is a crystal that the Dark Kingdom and myself are after-" he began.

 

"Whoa wait, I thought you weren't with them." Usagi said, interrupting him. If he was with the enemy then she needed to be splits ville now.

 

"I'm not. However, I’m not one of your Sailor Senshi either. I am my own person. I will lend assistance when needed, but I work on my own." he explained.

 

"Well that's fair enough, I guess." Usagi said after a second and then continued, "So what should I refer to you as, then?"

 

"For now simply call me Tuxedo Kamen." he said, tipping his hat at her. Usagi would have curtsied back, if she had been sure her legs would hold at the moment, but chose to go the safer route for now, giving a slight bow.

 

As she straightened up she said: "Well then, for now; thank you for your assistance, Tuxedo Kamen. I am sure I will see you around."

 

"Likewise, Ms. Moon." the man replied, before turning and making an exit. Usagi followed shortly, not wanting to get caught here by the various patrons and make them wonder who the heck she was.

 

_SCENE_

 

The following day on the way home after going to Naru's house Usagi decided to take quick detour on the way home. She couldn't quite go home without making the last stop.

 

For once her memory decided not to fail her when it came to directions and she was able to find the place without trouble. It was a bit unusual for her, considering that over the years she had grown used to the memory problems and the fact that she had to read over things or go places two or three times before it really struck normally. So when one place struck her mind without a problem, it showed that she thought of it as noteworthy. She just hoped the old man was still around.

 

Sure enough there was the usual long line that usually wrapped around the block for the small stand was still set up in the alleyway. She checked her phone's clock, she still had enough time to get home before curfew if the line didn't take too long. She just wanted to stop by one more time to get a better explanation to what he had said during the reading the day before.

 

It took her around half an hour to get to the front of the line. The old man smiled at her, recognizing her from the day before and said: "Ah young miss, back again are we? Are you looking for another tarot card reading?"

 

"Actually yes. I was wondering if you could maybe explore something you brought up last time during the reading that I am curious about." Usagi said, scratching the back of her head nervously.

 

"Well I may not be able to get everything you want, but I can certainly see what I can do. Go ahead and take the seat." he said, motioning to the chair across from him.

 

"Thank you!" Usagi said enthusiastically, taking the seat across from him.

 

_The old man's reading got me thinking about things in general. I can't help but wonder about some of the things he said, you know? I may go back to him a few more times for readings to try to get a better understanding._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Dreaming of Stardom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best! 
> 
> First off, the usual thank yous. Thank you to LuvAnime4-Ever and ladygodess8 for the favorites (and the lovely review, ladygodess 8). To AzarathMetrionZ (wow thanks for tellin me his name, I could never find that), Comet Moon (recalculated looking more about chapter 17 right now, may change though), ladygodes8, and Starrlight1812 for the reviews. To Cenlyra, Starrlight1812, ladygodess8, and Rockmanbeasto for putting the story on their alerts.
> 
> Over on the tumblr side. A thank you to sailorithica and juliemaria12. 
> 
> And of course a thank you to all of the unknown readers of my story.
> 
> Second; I am aware of the fact that in the original the Cinderella Caravan was more of a talent show than a pop idol search. I changed it because I thought it would come off better.
> 
> Third; as usual I don't own Sailor Moon, they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi. Nor do I own any of the rights of 'I Dreamed A Dream' from Les Miserables.
> 
> Finally a big thanks to niallcaneatmyfoodanytime, my beta, for helping me make this story presentable to the public. Wouldn't be here without you!

_Dear Shingo,_

_You know how I'm always thinking of ways to try and help Mom and Dad, right? One path I have considered multiple times, but never actually tried, was entering an idol contest. I always felt that I was the type that they didn't want, so I never actually entered. That is until Luna forced my hand..._

"Hey Naru, what's going on?" Usagi asked one day during lunch break at school, her friend was looking at a bulletin board along with a rather large group of students.

 

"Oh hey Usagi, someone just posted something for an idol contest." Naru said, turning to her friend.

 

"Again?" Usagi asked, curiously glancing over her friend's shoulder. While it didn't happen on an everyday basis, every once in a while agents would host contests for students of a variety of ages, searching for the next big thing in the idol world. There had been one just a few weeks back, actually, that one of the girls in a grade above them had won. The contest winners were usually given some money upfront, a cd release, and a contract for a certain amount of time. Usagi had thought about entering before for the prize money, but never had been actually able to work up the courage to enter it before.

 

"Sure is, and apparently this one offers the chance for the winner to sing a duet with that new pop idol: Mikan Shiratori." Naru said.

 

"Sounds like a good deal." Usagi said, scanning the competition prizes with her eyes. Maybe she would think about trying to enter this time.

 

"It is, we should enter." Naru suggested cheerfully.

 

"Maybe, I'm not sure," Usagi said, straightening up to look at Naru.

 

"Usagi, you should at least give it a try for once. I think you would be surprised by how far you might get." Naru said, sounding a bit exasperated. This wasn't the first conversation like this that she and Usagi had had in the recent months.

 

"Right, you must be joking. Like the music agents would take someone like her as a musical idol." she heard a familiar voice sneer behind her.

 

Usagi stiffened, not saying anything. Naru frowned and decided to respond saying, "Back off! You don't know that Takeshi."

 

He snorted in fake amusement before saying: "You're kidding yourself if you're thinking that she actually has a chance in that type of competition."

 

"Says who." Naru snapped back at him.

 

"Says anyone who has common sense. It takes more than just singing talent to make it in the music business nowadays, and there is no way they would take someone like her." Takeshi grinned.

 

"Whatever Takeshi, come on Usagi lets leave these idiots to their own stupid thoughts." Naru said, taking her arm and dragging her away from the bulletin board and towards their usual eating place.

 

_SCENE_

 

Later that afternoon, at Naru's house, her and Usagi were relaxing again.

 

Naru brought up the topic of the contest again. She pulled out a flyer she had picked up on the contest, placed it on the table, and was about to speak when Usagi beat her to it: "Oh no. We have been over this before. I am not going to enter an idol contest."

 

"Usagi, I just wish you would actually consider it for once. You have a really pretty singing voice, but you're terrified to test it out in a contest, because of the fact that you let Takeshi and the rest of the guys get to you." Naru said with an exasperated sigh.

 

"They have a point though. I look nothing like the typical pop idol. All of the agents will take one look at me and throw my application out." Usagi responded.

 

"Maybe that would be a good thing though." Naru argued.

 

"I doubt that." Usagi argued back.

 

"At least think about it." Naru said with a sigh.

 

"I guess." Usagi said after a second.

 

Luna spoke up for the first time. She had been looking at the flyer with a frown and said, "Naru may I take this flyer? I want to run this by Central, something about this seems just a bit off."

 

"I don't see how it could be odd, considering its just a flyer for an idol contest. Those happen almost monthly. But sure, you can take it if you really want to look at it." Naru said, raising an eyebrow.

 

"It could be nothing, but I would rather just check and make sure I am not recognizing something here. I'll be out for a little." Luna said, taking the flyer in her mouth. She hopped on the nearby windowsill and made her way through the window crack and into the outside.

 

_SCENE_

 

Luna was back within the hour, flyer still hanging in her mouth. Usagi raised her pencil in salute saying: "Hey Luna."

 

Luna decided to cut straight to the chase, "Usagi, you are going to have to enter the competition."

 

That got Usagi to look up from her homework, shrieking, "You want me to do what?!"

 

That earned collective flinches from the room's other inhabitants, minus Luna who simply put the paper down on the table before saying: "We think this contest might be a plot of the Dark Kingdom. The best way to investigate whether this is true or not is to have a contestant on the inside. And you’re the best viable option of the entire group."

 

Usagi just grumbled more at that, while Naru voiced the question that the whole room had been asking themselves in their heads: "But Luna there are hundreds of these contests each year, what makes this one so different?"

 

"It’s simple, actually." Luna said, using her paw to point at a symbol on the poster. It was barely noticeable to the human eye, just fitting into the bottom right hand corner of the poster. She continued, "This small symbol here is usually associated with the Dark Agency. Who minions of the Dark Kingdom have worked to before. Normally they are based out of England. The fact they are running a mission out of Japan is unheard of, basically. That's why I had to check with Central to make sure I was seeing this correct."

 

"So why not make whomever is in charge of taking care of the demons in England take care of this contest." Usagi snapped. She was liking this idea, less and less.

 

"Because that would mean removing her from her school in England and dragging her around the world, in order to fight an enemy on a suspicion. And unlike your parents, who are aware of your senshi duties, her parents are completely oblivious and we would prefer to keep it that away." Luna said, her tone becoming more exasperated by the minute.

 

"And why can't-" Usagi began.

"Because Naru doesn't have the ability to fight youma magic. She could technically enter on her own, if she wanted to, but she would do very little in a fight against a youma." Luna said, her tone now portraying a mood of beyond annoyance.

 

"Alright, I guess. But don't expect me to go very far." Usagi said, after a second of hesitant thought.

 

_SCENE_

 

The next afternoon Usagi stood in front of the hall nervously. Luna was at her feet, probably to make sure she didn't try to back out, which, admittedly, was Usagi's first instinct. She just couldn't see this ending well in any shape or form. And judging by the twitching tail she could see out of the corner of her eye, she was getting increasingly agitated.

 

"Well, are you going to go in or what." Luna hissed.

 

"Don't see the point on why I am doing this." Usagi muttered back.

 

"I've all ready explained it to you twice. Please don't make me explain for a third time." Luna said, her tone becoming more annoyed by the minute.

 

Usagi was spared a response when she heard someone call out: "Usagi!"

 

She looked up, before grinning, "Naru! What are you doing here?"

 

"Well, I figured you could use some support. And a second set of eyes wouldn't hurt, so I'm going to enter too." Naru said, giving her a smile.

 

"That would be great, right Luna?" Usagi said.

 

"Well-" Luna started.

 

" _Right Luna?"_ Usagi repeated, this time stressing the words.

 

"Yes." came Luna's response after a second. It was annoying, but at least she had come out on top about getting Usagi to enter, even if Naru was now in it too.

 

"Good then lets get going inside!" Usagi said cheerfully before grabbing a hold of Naru's hand and dragging her towards the entrance of the hall. A bit more enthusiastic about entering the contest, now that she wasn't going to have to do it alone.

 

Usagi tugged at the edge of her dress absent mindedly. She really hadn't wanted to wear it, but Luna had been rather insistent that she ditch the pants for today. Though Usagi honestly thought it decreased her odds of getting past the initial stages more than helped.

 

Speaking of the cat, Luna left the two girls to their own devices pretty early on, taking off for parts unknown, probably trying to find some evidence to back up her claim that this contest was an actual front for the Dark Kingdom. Usagi just hoped she was right for once, since she really didn't want to go through this gigantic mess for no reason.

 

"Usagi, it is almost your turn." Naru spoke up.

 

"I still don't want to do this." Usagi sighed.

 

"Your fretting too much about your legs. They won't care when they hear you sing." Naru said, waving off her wories.

 

Usagi let out a disbelieving snort before replying, "Naru, part of being an idol is looks. It will take a miracle for them to overlook all of my issues."

 

"Well maybe you will be wrong? I mean, you don't know until you try." Naru said, giving her a hopeful smile.

 

"And that's exactly what I am being forced to do." Usagi muttered under her breath.

 

Naru sighed in exasperation at the last comment, but didn't actually say something. Instead she grabbed a hold of her friend's hand and began dragging her in the direction of the audition room. A second later she shoved her through the door, as Usagi's name was called.

 

Usagi gulped nervously before making her way to the center of the room. It was a simple room, there was a sign in the background, saying something about the Cinderella Caravan contest. She noticed Mikan sitting at a table in the center of the room. She was accompanied by a man with short blond hair, who was watching her curiously. She guessed he must be Mikan's agent.

 

Mikan glanced down at the papers she had for a second before addressing her, "Usagi Tsukino, correct?"

 

"Yes." Usagi said, giving a nervous smile.

 

"Well, let’s see what you have got then." Mikan said, flashing her a brilliant smile.

 

"I am going to be singing a song that is personal to me." Usagi said after a second, continuing to fiddle with the hem of her dress.

 

"Alright then, whenever you are ready." she said with a smile.

 

Usagi took a deep breath, making a motion for the music to start, and waited for her turn to start, "I dreamed a dream in time gone by."

 

Usagi tried to ignore the judge's reactions, as she started on the next line, "When hope was high  
and life worth living."

 

As she inhaled to hit the right notes of the next part, she noticed out of the corner of her eye Mikan saying something to the blond haired guy, "I dreamed that love would never die! I dreamed that God would be forgiving."

 

The man seemed to be thinking of cutting her off, but Mikan gave him an elbow and she was allowed to continue, "Then I was young and unafraid, and dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid. No song unsung, no wine untasted."

 

She was about to start the next batch of lyrics when Mikan made some sort of gesture and the music cut off. Usagi gave them a nervous smile. Mikan was the first one to break the silence saying, "Well, I wasn't so sure what to think when you first walked in. You sure proved the old English adage to never judge one by one's cover."

 

"Uh, thanks I guess." Usagi said, scratching the back of her head nervously.

 

"No, no its a compliment. I think you would make a good idol actually, what about you Jed?" Mikan said, smiling, turning to the blond haired man.

 

"Well, with some work in other areas, she definitely has potential to be a pop idol." Jed said, looking at her for a second before continuing, "So I guess she passes."

 

"Well that settles it then. Come here for a second." Mikan said, making a motion for her to come forward. Usagi did so a bit reluctantly. Mikan took the rubber stamp that had been sitting on the table next to her and pressed it on her right hand. When the stamp was removed she could see it had a left a circular mark that had writing inside it, that read as 'Cinderella Caravan semi-finalist.'

 

Usagi gave her a smile, before saying, "Thank you for the chance."

 

"Not a problem. Just remember to report tomorrow around noon for the next round of the competition." Mikan said, giving her a bright smile before shooing her in the direction of the door she had come in. Usagi gave one last smile before leaving the room.

 

_SCENE_

 

Usagi was waiting outside of the contest hall for Naru to finish her audition, when Luna finally rejoined her. She was still on cloud nine, she couldn't believe she had actually managed to get into the second round of auditions.

 

"So, find anything strange, Luna?" Usagi asked as they sat there watching people come in and out of the hall.

 

"Well no, and that's what's weird. I feel like there is something not right here, but I haven't been able to find it yet." Luna said, her tail twitching back and forth in agitation.

 

"Well maybe for once its just a normal contest?" Usagi suggested, raising an eyebrow at the cat.

 

"Maybe, but I still want to come back with you tomorrow for the second round of the contest. Maybe there is something I missed. There is something about this whole situation that bugs me." Luna responded.

 

"Okay. I'm sure Naru can bring you along tomorrow." Usagi said, keeping an eye on the door. She grinned when she saw Naru finally come out, whistling to get her friends attention. Naru spotted her and grinned before jogging on over. Usagi raised an eyebrow before asking, "Well how did it go?"

 

"I'm in! What about you?" Naru said, showing her the same hand stamp that Usagi had gotten on her right hand.

 

Usagi grinned sheepishly before showing her own hand. Naru didn't say anything, only choosing to hug her while squealing rather loudly. When she pulled away the first thing Naru said was: "See, I told you so! I knew you were good enough to do well enough at a idol contest."

 

Usagi sweat dropped before replying, "Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. This is only the first round of the competition."

 

"True, but you have to give yourself some credit. For the last year and a half you've been saying no one would let you enter a contest like this, let alone you go into the second round of the competition. And look what happened today!" Naru said, giving her a grin.

 

"Yeah that's true, I guess." Usagi said, scratching the back of her head again.

 

"Come on, we have to go clothes shopping again." Naru said, dragging her off in the direction of the nearest mall. Usagi thought the clothes she owned were perfectly good for the competition, but knew better than to argue with Naru when she got in one of these moods.

 

_SCENE_

 

The next afternoon saw both girls back at the contest hall. Along with a rather large amount of contestants. Luna took off again to investigate things at first chance, leaving Usagi and Naru to entertain themselves until the second round of contests started.

 

"There sure are a lot more people here than I thought there would be." Usagi muttered to Naru, trying to keep herself from being overheard by other contestants.

 

"Yeah, I am a bit surprised myself," Naru responded, glancing around at the crowd. "Maybe they are trying to give as many people as possible a chance at stardom?"

 

"Well that's a huge confidence booster." Usagi responded, grumbling under her breath. She had actually been feeling good after getting past the first round of competition the day before, in spite of that one guy's comments. But if they were passing everyone under the sun, then what did that actually say about her own abilities?

 

"Well maybe Luna has a point with this being a plot," Naru suggested, her tone sounding hopeful.

 

"What makes you say that?" Usagi said, tilting her head to the side.

 

"Well think about it. It may a good ruse to gather energy if you host a fake idol contest. And so far this is looking more and more like it’s a fake idol contest." Naru said.

 

"Yeah, I guess that's true. But what could they be using to gather energy on a easy basis..." Usagi wondered to herself, tapping her foot slightly as she tried to think of possible scenarios. If this was the enemy, the whole situation was a bit confusing. What was the purpose of day one of competition. Because there hadn't been anything obvious that could be used to steal energy. The only thing that she had acquired yesterday was the stamp...Wait, maybe the stamp was the key to their operation. Usagi glanced down at the mark on her hand. Nothing extremely unusual about it, but she hadn't been fighting long enough to detect the Dark Kingdom's supposed signature it emits whenever it tries to steal energy.

 

"Usagi? Is something wrong?" Naru's voice came breaking her out of her thoughts.

 

"No, not really. Something just occurred to me. But I would need Luna to back me up. However..." Usagi said, glancing around the room before continuing, "Luna is nowhere to be found. So as of right now all I have is a hunch."

 

"What? You think the enemy might actually be involved? But how?" Naru said, her volume dropping a few octaves.

 

Usagi chose to not actually say something this time instead just pointing at her stamped hand. Naru blinked once, than twice before catching on, "You think the stamp might be what the enemy is using this time?"

"Its the only logical explanation. I mean, think about it. What else have we been given that the enemy could be using to steal energy?" Usagi asked.

 

"That's true." Naru said.

 

The two girls fell into silence as they waited for the second stage of competition to start. Usagi was wondering how this stage would go when she heard a familiar meow.

 

"Luna! There you are!"  Usagi said getting to eye level with the cat.

 

The cat quirked an eyebrow before replying, "You are unusually enthusiastic."

 

Usagi scratched her head sheepishly before replying, "Yeah, well we had a question."

 

Luna tilted her head before replying, "What about?"

 

"We were wondering if the stamps reeked of the Dark Kingdom's aura. You know, like you said the card from the other day was like." Usagi said, holding out her stamped hand so Luna could get a good look at it.

 

Luna got closer to take a better look at the stamp. After a second she stepped back, making a face before nodding her head. She said: "Yes that reeks of the Dark Kingdom. Not as much as the tarot card from the other day, but it’s still there. They’re obviously starting to catch on to the fact they have an enemy. I'm surprised I missed it when around Naru."

 

"So what do we do now?" Usagi asked after a second before questioning, "And how are we going to find the youma?"

 

"Describe to me the people that oversaw your entrance yesterday." Luna said after a second.

 

"Well there was Mikan, and you saw the posters of her earlier right?" Usagi said after a second at Luna's nod she continued, "And then she had some guy with her that she referred to as Jed. Never seen him before with her. But he had short blond hair and dark blue eyes."

 

Luna stiffened at the latter description, muttering to herself, "So they were reborn and recruited after all."

 

"Luna, uh, what do you mean." Naru asked, speaking up for the first time.

 

"The man you described matches the description of the Shitennou." Luna hesitantly explained after a second of thought.

 

"You said they were dead." Usagi hissed in annoyance, recognizing the name from Luna's history lesson a few days prior.

 

"I know what I said! It never occurred to me they may have been reincarnated with everyone else in this era. Let alone working for Queen Beryl again." Luna admitted after a second.

 

"Well that's just great. I still hold my stance about killing anything humans." Usagi snapped. Luna had managed to get her on board with the idea of fighting an enemy, after convincing her that any humans who would have worked for them would have long ago passed away. Now they were back to square one.

 

"There may be a way to heal them if they aren't too far gone." Luna admitted after a second, "But you aren't ready to wield that kind of power yet. I'll have to consult with Central about how to handle the fact the Shitennou are active again."

 

"While that's great for now, what do we do about our little youma problem?" Usagi asked, crossing her arms in thought.

 

"More than likely that isn't Mikan you encountered yesterday. There are certain youmas who are adept at impersonation. My first instinct would be that one of those is there in Mikan's place."  Luna said after a second of thought.

 

"So we just have to defeat the youma then, and try not to engage Jadeite. What about the real Mikan?" Usagi questioned.

 

"Pretty much yes. As for Mikan, more than likely she is still back in her residence, just tied up via a method available to the youma." Luna said.

 

"Slight problem though, we don't actually know where either this Jadeite or Mikan are at the moment." Naru said.

 

"Leave it to me. Just don't wander too far, you two, understood?" Luna said, turning to make a beeline out of the room. Once she got the girl's confirmation she disappeared into the crowd.

 

_SCENE_

 

It was a good half hour before Luna found the girls again. Or rather she found Usagi, seeing as Naru had disappeared in the meantime. Usagi, seeing the look she was being given, just said: "Bathroom run."

 

"Alright, well it is best she is involved the least amount in fights with youma. Follow me, I'll take you to where the youma is." Luna said, turning tail. Usagi reluctantly stood up and followed the cat down a nearby hall.

 

"I hope you are right about this Luna." Usagi muttered under her breath. If she wasn't right and she ended up in trouble, it wouldn't be good for her or Naru. Though now that she thought about it, most likely Naru would be left alone, since she wasn't being dragged on this excursion. Where she would get a large amount of yelling if she couldn't convince the security guards that she had gotten there by accident if she got caught.

 

"Oh stop. You’re worrying. Just transform already." Luna snapped, her tone suggesting she was becoming annoyed herself.

 

Usagi rolled her eyes at the tone before complying, saying in a quiet tone: "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

 

As soon as the transformation faded, leaving her in her senshi uniform, Luna was leading her again. Usagi sure as heck hoped that Luna had a good memory, since she had long ago lost track of the way they had come from. Finally they came to a stop in front of a door, not really marked with anything. Usagi reluctantly opened the door enough to let Luna in first before following behind her ducking behind a desk to conceal herself as she heard two voices talk. Poking enough of her head over just so she could see the two owners of the voices.

 

Usagi cringed when she saw the youma that had been posing as Mikan. With her disguise not on completely, it looked anything but human. And Usagi once again was forced to marvel at these strange creatures' ability to blend in so easily with the rest of them. The man though, the one the youma had previously referred to as Jed, and the one who had been called Jadeite by Luna still looked human enough, how odd. The only change in him was a change in outfit, having gone from the suit she had seen him wearing the day before, to dark blue uniform of some sorts. She missed most of what he was saying, only catching the last part as he apparently told the youma that he would leave her in charge of everything from here on out, before disappearing into thin air.

 

Usagi who had managed to stay quiet up until this point let out a squeak, attracting the attention of the youma, who said, "Who's there?"

 

Usagi’s first instinct was to just try and hide until the youma left. But Luna's headbutt against her arm reminded her that she apparently couldn't do just that. She gave the cat one last glance before reluctantly getting to her feet. The youma gave her a sneer before asking: "Who are you?"

 

Usagi fell into the habit that was starting to become familiar as that speech came to her lips again saying: "I am Sailor Moon, the pretty suited soldier of love and justice. How dare you raise people's hopes of becoming a pop idol in order to gather energy! In the name of the moon I will punish you!"

 

"Sailor Moon? Impossible, there is no Sailor Moon!" the youma sneered back at her.

 

"Well there is now." Usagi answered, annoyed at the creature. Though part of her briefly wondered about the youma's phrasing. It suggested that there hadn't been a Sailor Moon before. Yet the way Luna talked made it sound like there had been Sailor Senshi before. Ah well, she would have to ask Luna about it at a later time.

 

"Like it matters. You won't stop the return of the great Queen Metalia and the take over of Earth.” the youma said.

 

"Oh yeah?" Usagi said, raising an eyebrow in question. This was the first time she had heard of this 'great Queen Metalia', so she wondered if this was something this youma was making up. But why would it do that?

 

The youma decided not to answer her, instead opening its mouth to spew some bluish substance, that missed her by half an inch. Usagi reached up for her tiara, going to retaliate with her own attack. Except the youma decided to try attacking her again, and managed to catch her throwing arm in the strange blue gunky stuff that she had dodged a few seconds prior. Usagi attempted to move her arm, only to find it stuck in position by the blue gunky stuff which was spreading. Her voice portraying her own panic, she said: "Uh Luna, a little help here?"

 

"Trying to do something." she could barely make out Luna’s words, who was gnawing on part of the blue stuff that was spreading to her lower body. Crap this wasn't good.

 

"Well hurry up Luna, because it sure isn't spreading slowly." Usagi snapped, her anxiety spreading with the blue gunk.

 

However, the problem was solved when a rose of all things hit the hardening blue gunk shattering it into pieces. Usagi rubbed her right arm, saying an inward prayer in thanks as she saw the man, who had identified himself as Tuxedo Kamen during their last encounter, was distracting the youma. She took advantage of it, reaching for her tiara again and removing it, tossing it in the direction of the youma calling, "Moon Tiara Action!"

 

The youma realized what was happening a second too late, as the disc made contact with it, turning it into dust. Usagi let out a sigh of relief, before turning to where Tuxedo Kamen had been a second earlier. Only to sigh when he realized he had disappeared, she would have to say thanks the next time he helped her.

 

"Usagi, who was that?" Luna asked after a second of silence.

 

"Huh? Oh, I thought you would have known about him." Usagi said, kind of surprised. If he was an ally of the Senshi, shouldn't Luna know of his existence?

 

"No, I have never seen him before. But you have?" Luna said, eyebrow raised in question.

 

"Well yeah. He was the one that helped me with the fortune house youma. He distracted the zombie like customers long enough for me to get an attack in." Usagi explained.

 

"So he's an ally then." Luna said after a second of silence.

 

"Yeah, you could say that." Usagi said with a shrug, remembering the odd conversation she had with him back at the fortune telling place.

 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luna asked.

 

"Nothing really. He just seemed to imply that he was an ally, but preferred to work on his own." Usagi said, crossing her arms as she finally stepped back out in the hall.

 

"Still, that could mean anything." Luna said wearily.

 

"Luna, if he really was the enemy I doubt he would be willingly acting as bait for his allies so I could destroy his comrades. I think he just wants to help defend the world, but doesn't want to be tied down to someone." Usagi said, her tone becoming exasperated again.

 

"I guess that's true," Luna said.

 

"Thank you. Now let's find Naru and get the heck out of here. I don't want to be the person to tell all the other prospect idols that their contest might have just gotten cancelled unexpectedly." Usagi said, dropping her transformation before stepping out into the hallway and letting Luna lead the way back to the main room.

 

_So the contest was never supposed to happen. Poor Mikan was found in her bathroom, tied up, apparently for the last few days. Of course most people don't believe the official story. Which is some impersonator was putting on the contest. So her and her publicists are trying to fix this incident. It will be interesting to see what they do to resolve this entire mess._

_I did try and bring up the subject of what the youma said with Luna on the way home after the contest ended. However Luna is strangely mum about the subject. She seems to be insistent on keeping certain things from me now. Which is annoying. Oh well, maybe when we get the rest of the Senshi she'll start being more open about my questions. One can hope, right?_

_Or maybe is it just payback for not mentioning the mysterious Tuxedo Kamen? I mean I wasn't sure how to bring him up in conversation. And Luna never really gave me an opening to do it before today._

_I feel like things are just getting more confusing instead of making more sense. It seems like every new factor that is thrown into the equation just makes things more messy instead of making it easier to solve._

_There are days like this where I wish I could go back and tell myself to not go to the arcade with Naru. But it has to get better eventually, right?_

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus ends chapter 4! Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> But I have a little surprise for you. From now on I am going to be including little excerpts of the next chapter. Please note that these are unbetad, so if their are spelling and grammar errors, that's why. So to tide you over until Monday, here's a sneak peak of chapter 5: 
> 
> "Uh crap Luna what now?" Usagi said turning to the cat. This was a first, both of the youmas she had fought before had quickly fallen to her tiara. Well maybe not quickly. The second one had required the help of that odd tuxedo wearing rose throwing guy.
> 
> "Give me a second to think," Luna said trying to not let out her worries seep through. This was a problem. The youma were now getting to be too strong to be taken out by a single attack. She needed to find the remaining Sailor Senshi but she only had a few ideas on where to begin to look for the remaining princess' primary guardians.
> 
> "Maybe we can be of assistance," a feminine voice spoke up. Usagi turned surprised to see the girl from earlier with Haruka.
> 
> “Um, I’m not exactly sure how you could-” Usagi began only to be interrupted.
> 
> “Sailor Moon just focus on the enemy. I think they actually maybe able to give us a hand but I need to check something,” Luna said.
> 
> “If you’re sure,” Usagi said turning to fully face the youma again who seemed to be looking for Amade-san who had disappeared with the distraction she had provided.
> 
> See you on Monday with chapter 5!


	5. A Step In A Different Direction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best! 
> 
> A thank you to moonclarinet for adding me to her C2 archive, Favorite stories that I like. To ladygodes8, Puffgirl1952, LoveInTheBattlefield, and buttaflykissesxoxo (thanks for giving the story a try) for the reviews! To obsessiveicequeen for adding me to her story alerts. And buttaflykissesxoxo for the favorite. And a thanks to Juliemarie12 for continuing to like my story over on tumblr
> 
> And of course a thank you to all of the unknown readers of my story.
> 
> As usual I don't own Sailor Moon, they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi. 
> 
> Also sorry to my AO3 readers, this somehow got left out.
> 
> Finally a big thanks to niallcaneatmyfoodanytime, my beta, for helping me make this story presentable to the public. Wouldn't be here without you!

_Dear Shingo,  
_

_I know of all people that it is best not to judge based on first appearances. But I always felt I was good at reading people at first glance. That was until today. You may remember in an earlier letter me meeting a boy named Haruka Tenoh. Keep in mind the fact that I thought that Haruka was a guy..._

"I hate bad weather," Usagi muttered to no one in particular as she opened her umbrella. At least there didn't appear to be any thunder with this. She couldn't stand thunderstorms. Not that she was enthusiastic about walking home in a downpour like how it was right now, it was still better than dealing with thunder.

It now had been a couple days since they had defeated the youma at the Cinderella Caravan contest. Things had once again fallen into silence as there hadn't been any signs of the Dark Kingdom being on the move again.

Though there had been lots of complaints from contestants about the sudden cancellation of the contest. To the point where Mikan and her sponsor company were taking some backfire from the Dark Kingdom's scam. She honestly felt sorry for the girl and those associated with her since she, Luna, and Naru were the only people who actually knew what had happened and why the contest had come to a sudden unceremonious halt. But it wasn't like they could step in and say something in Mikan's defence. To do so would make them sound crazy.

They seemed to be coming to a solution though. As there were rumours going around of a new official Cinderella Caravan being hosted with an actual chance to become a pop idol. Though it sounded like they were trying to limit it to the contestants from the previous contest fiasco. She had gotten a letter inviting her to enter the contest, same with Naru, but they had decided to sit out this contest. Deciding that one bid for musical fame was enough for a while.

Luna however insisted that it was just a matter of time before they saw the Dark Kingdom again. Which was the reason why the cat insisted on seeming to follow the two girls everywhere they went no matter where they went. Usagi pitied Naru who had to live twenty-four hours seven days a week with the over protective cat. At least she only had to deal with the cat outside of school and whenever they went to Naru's house. Once she got home she didn't have to think about the cat. Tonight was a rare night where the cat wasn't following her home and back seemingly wanting to avoid the downpour, not that Usagi blamed her.

She thought about briefly stopping at the old man's table for another reading. She had dropped by several more times since fighting the Fortune House youma for some more insight into things in general. She was finding the art of tarot card reading fascinating. And in some ways it gave her a focal point in her life that just seemed to be getting crazier by the day. However as much she had grown to like the reassurances she doubted he would be set up in the storm considering that he had no physical cover to put the table under. Ah well maybe she could ask him for two readings tomorrow.

And maybe she could get some more insight into the Sailor Senshi, or at least what she thought were the Senshi. Some of the things he had said during the readings had made her wonder if she would be seeing her supposed fighting companions sometime sooner rather than later.

Usagi had managed to get home without much incident but fate had a way of making things happening no matter what on her trip home from Naru's house and today was no exception to that slowly forming rule. She was just walking along not too far from her home when an older man plowed into her at a run side knocking flat on her butt.

"Ouch!" Usagi complained absentmindedly, rubbing her butt. It didn't really hurt that bad but it still felt like her tailbone may bruise.

"I'm so sorry," she heard someone say.

Turning to see who had plowed into her she realized she had seen a picture of the man just a little while back when over at Naru's house. Naru had gotten a hold of some nice sounding jazz music and they had been listening to it via her laptop. Usagi haven been curious had looked up the artist, and unless she was making a mistake or he was a dead ringer for the guy, this was him. She took a hold of the offered hand and stood up. Usagi paused for a second before carefully asking the next question, "Hey this is going to probably sound strange but you wouldn't happen to be Yusuke Amade?"

"Yes actually," he said in a tone that sounded to be a mix of weary and surprised. He glanced over his shoulder again leaving Usagi wondering what was on his mind.

After a second though Usagi shrugged it off and began digging through her bag. She should have something in here to use. She didn't look up as she said the next part, "You wouldn't mind signing something for a friend would you? She's a big fan of yours."

"Uh yeah sure I guess, but could we keep moving? I've had the weirdest evening and I need to get to the club I'm working at," he said.

Usagi finally finding some blank paper in her case pulled it out and the Luna Pen. Though Luna probably preferred if she kept it stashed somewhere safe she did carry it around with her. As it had more uses than just as a magical item. Or rather it could be used for what a pen was mean to be used for, to write. She handed both over as they continued to head in a direction that she assumed was where he worked she decided to ask, "So what were you running from?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. I can hardly believe what happened myself," he admitted, scribbling his signature onto the piece of paper along with Naru's name before handing it back over to Usagi who promptly placed her things back in her suitcase. Best not to risk it getting ruined by the rain.

"Hm, I wouldn't be so sure. You would be surprised what I've seen the last few days," Usagi responded with. It was true after everything that had happened since she awoke as a Senshi she doubted much could surprise anymore.

He quirked an eyebrow at her comment but chose to not press he comment but rather her earlier question, "I had what had to be the weirdest creature in the world chasing me. It looked like something straight out of a horror movie. Wings like a bat and fur covered. Tall as most adult men. Good lord it was weird. And it kept chasing me saying that I had taken something that belonged to it."

Either someone was pulling an elaborate prank or it was a youma again Usagi internally thought though she wasn't going to voice those thoughts. But what the heck would the youma want with a just starting out jazz musician. Mind you the guy created some really good music but he was only just starting off really just having released a few songs recently and a new one supposedly under production. So that brought the question of why him? Wouldn't it make more sense to go after some famous idol?

"You probably think that I'm crazy," he said after a few minutes of silence not making eye contact with her stuffing his hands into the coat he was wearing.

"No, no in fact I've seen some pretty strange creatures around here myself. So I wouldn't be surprised at all if you actually saw something that matches that description," Usagi said waving her hands in a reassuring manor. She paused for a second to think, "Was there anything recently you purchased or maybe got from someone?"

"No well other than picking up my demo CD that I had dropped off at the studio earlier," he said showing her a CD case. It was just your average run of the mill case the only designation to what it was the writing on top of it that read, _A Waltz for Akiko_. Nothing to really suggest that a youma would go after it, how odd. She handed it back over to him.

"Yeah I can't see why you would have some weird creature chasing after you demanding you return your own possession," Usagi admitted a bit confused. It didn't make sense and didn't seem to match any of the MO that Luna described the Dark Kingdom as having. Why target one single man instead of the masses that they had done the last two times they had run into the Dark Kingdom?

"I must sound like some crazed madman," he said.

Usagi shook her head in the negative before responding, "Not at all. In fact I had an encounter with a strange creature of my own a week or so back."

"I guess what they have been saying about the monsters in Tokyo are true then. I thought it was some elaborate hoax someone's been putting on. But that sure seemed real," he said shaking slightly at bringing the subject of the youma

"Trust me on this one, they are very much real," Usagi muttered under her breath in a half complaint, half statement. What she would give for those youma to be fake and part of a hoax like he had suggested they actually were.

"Anyway I have a performance to get to. Thanks for hearing me ramble about the weird creature," he said giving her a slight bow as they reached the awning of a building nearby. It appeared to be some sort of club so that made some sense about his performance sentence.

"Oh, not a problem. Hope that you have seen the last of it," Usagi stated back giving him a smile. Just because she was going to have to deal with these creatures for god knows how long didn't mean she had to wish every normal person in Tokyo to see them. He waved at her in a friendly manner before disappearing into the building via an unmarked side entrance.

* * *

A few minutes later saw her on her cell phone in a nearby alley talking to Luna. After the strange conversation Amade-san she had decided to consult Luna on the possibility of another youma attack. Luna had agreed that it sounded very much like a youma was targeting the musician and said she would meet up with her shortly.

This led to her rattling off the address and general location of the music club over the phone. All the while digging through her bag searching for her Luna Pen. Finally finding what she working for she ducked into a nearby alley and gave the Luna Pen a command, "Luna Pen transform me into hip looking adult music fan!"

She felt the ever growing familiar magic wash over her as her normal clothes faded away to be replaced by the clothes the pen she had given her. She was still wearing a shirt but was now wearing a black leather jacket over the shirt. Her normal pants had been replaced by a pair of jeans. She could tell her hair had been shortened drastically from its normal length to where it just came to her chin.

She briefly wondered how long it would take for Luna to get her from Naru's house. She knew the cat could be pretty darn fast when she wanted to. Usagi just had to worry now that she wouldn't miss Amade-san's performance. Thankfully the wait for Luna to arrive was a short one. Usagi wasn't sure how the cat was able to do it but just threw it under the same category of things she didn't understand since she had become Sailor Moon. They quickly decided that the cat's best course of action was to play dead so it would appear that she was stuffed. They both just hoped they wouldn't get stopped by someone.

Thankfully no one stopped them and Usagi settled into a table towards the back. She frowned though upon noticing that it wasn't Amade-san. Instead a girl with a dark blue green hair color mix was on the stage looking like she was about to start playing a violin. There was a guy next to her that wasn't Amade-san that looked like he was about to start playing the piano. While she couldn't recognize the girl from anywhere. The guy seemed eerily familiar and it took her a minute to place him. As she realized it was the same guy she who had offered her a ride home after her and Luna's argument. Now what was his name? Something that started with H. Hiki, Hiana, Haruhi, no but that seemed familiar, wait, that's it! Haruka. That was what the guy had said his name was.

She was about to mention something to Luna when the waiter came up to her offering to get her a drink. She politely waved him off turning back to the stage as the duo had begun to play. But if they were playing that begged the question of where was Amade-san? Maybe he had all ready played? She hoped not. If that really was a youma chasing him than most likely it hadn't given up finding him. Meaning the youma had to be around somewhere nearby. The two maybe played for about ten minutes before getting off the stage. Usagi and Luna both breathed sighs of relief when one of the club workers announced that Amade-san was coming up next.

He didn't appear any worse for wear when he got up on the stage which at least told Usagi that he probably hadn't somehow encountered the strange creature again. She absentmindedly listened to the music keeping an eye on him. Luna was muttering in low tones that if the youma hadn't attacked again yet it would soon. Which Usagi had to agree to somewhat judging by what she had been told.

* * *

 She could tell it was getting later than she was used to being out though because nearly dozed off at one point. If it hadn't been for Luna's persistence nudging she might have missed him exiting the stage. She watched him disappear through a back door and wondered how she was going to follow him as people began to move around with it being a break between musicians. She saw some other customers heading in the direction of where he had gone too. Maybe she could blend in well enough to go wherever they were all headed. She got back into the back of the group that she could now see were going into an elevator. She managed to squeeze in at the last second just hoping that she hadn't missed Amade-san.

As luck would have it she apparently hadn't missed Amade-san. She barely got out of the elevator before the doors closed. As the inhabitants had taken one look at the scene in front of them and had attempted to get away as quickly as possible.

She ducked out of sight and behind one of the parking garage's pillar not wanting to be spotted by either party. Amade-san she had to give credit too because he was apparently refusing to hand over the supposed demo CD. Luna hissed a few second later, "It's clear, go ahead and transform."

"If you say so," Usagi said moving her arms into the position and quietly whispered, "Moon Prism Power Make Up!"

The power flooded her and soon as the power faded she snuck out of her hiding spot saying, "Stop right there!"

"What do you want," the youma snapped in an annoyed tone.

Much like at the Fortune House she felt that strange compulsion to lecture saying, "How dare you desecrate this sacred place of music. I am the pretty suited soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon! And in the name of the moon I will punish you!"

"I don't care who you are as long as you don't get in my way of getting my CD back," the youma snapped at her.

"No can do," Usagi said reaching up for her tiara. Removing it from her forehead, she aimed, hoped for the best and shouted, "Moon Tiara Magic."

Except it didn't disintegrate on impact like it had been doing before. Instead the youma was able to know it back with one of its wings. Usagi flinched, great just great.

"Uh crap Luna what now?" Usagi said turning to the cat. This was a first, both of the youmas she had fought before had quickly fallen to her tiara. Well maybe not quickly. The second one had required the help of that odd tuxedo wearing rose throwing guy.

"Give me a second to think," Luna said trying to not let out her worries seep through. This was a problem. The youma were now getting to be too strong to be taken out by a single attack. She needed to find the remaining Sailor Senshi but she only had a few ideas on where to begin to look for the remaining princess' primary guardians.

"Maybe we can be of assistance," a feminine voice spoke up. Usagi turned surprised to see the girl from earlier with Haruka.

"Um, I'm not exactly sure how you could-" Usagi began only to be interrupted.

"Sailor Moon, just focus on the enemy. I think they may actually be able to give us a hand, but I need to check something," Luna said.

"If you're sure," Usagi said turning to fully face the youma again who seemed to be looking for Amade-san who had disappeared with the distraction she had provided.

Luna hoped that she would be able to keep the youma distracted as she tried to place some memories from the Moon Kingdom. While neither girl held any sign of the planetary Senshi she was supposed to be seeking they did hold some planetary power to them that did a ring bell for her even if she couldn't quiet place them. Which confused Luna greatly. The only Senshi she remembered clearly were the princesses' guardians. Well there was the matter of Sailor Moon but Central had assured her that she had a necessary role in the battle against the Dark Kingdom. So who were these two?

She knew each of the planets had a guardian Senshi. Otherwise there wouldn't have been eight planets classified as major planets by the Silver Alliance. But the memories of the other Senshi outside of the ones that had protected the princess, the ones she was supposed to be awakening, were sparse and hard to remember. From what little she could remember about the remaining four Senshi she could see the similarities enough that they were most likely the Senshi of Uranus and Neptune.

However what was most annoying about this whole situation was that she couldn't recall what the other four's purposes were. Maybe they were back-up for the main guardians? But then begged the question if that were the case than why were they appearing instead of the primary guardians. Had something happened to the primary guardians?

She decided to take a chance in spite of her confusion about these girls positions on the team and why there were here. Usagi was in need of help and at her stage of training she would do very little man power to this youma they needed to awaken the remaining Senshi even if something just didn't feel quite right about this whole situation. She turned to the two girls just hoping she was making the decision.

"You two want to help correct," Luna asked them tail twitching for a second.

"Well yeah, but we don't know what to do," Michiru said after a second.

"Got that taken care of," Luna said doing a back flip similar to the one she had done to get Usagi her Luna Pen and her transformation locket. Except this time two bracelets came out, an aquamarine colored bracelet with a large sea green gem in the middle and a yellow colored bracelet with a large amber in the centre. She placed the two bracelets in front of them respectively and said, "Take the bracelets and yell Uranus Power Make Up and Neptune Power Make Up!"

Michiru was the first to take the aquamarine bracelet after a second of hesitation. She took the bracelet and put it on her wrist making a swiping motion over the large gem on it while saying, "Neptune Power Make Up!"

Haruka followed a second later grabbing the other bracelet following Michiru in the same manner she said, "Uranus Power Make Up!"

Both girls felt a familiar power wash over them as their clothes faded away to uniforms much similar to the one Usagi wore but at the same time different.  Despite the oddity of the situation neither could deny the certain rightness they were both feeling. Something just felt right about being in these outfits. Like this was how it meant to be.  Even if Haruka wasn't used to wearing skirts on an everyday basis.

Michiru was the first to speak, "So we did what you asked, now what?"

"Feel deep inside yourselves you should be able to feel a power.  Pull on it and attempt to bring it to the front you'll know what to do from there," Luna instructed. While Usagi's abilities had been straight forward and easy enough to pull on without explanation the other Senshi would need help the first time they attempted to attack.

Haruka attempted to follow her instructions and was surprised to find just what Luna was talking about. Right within herself was the exact power as described she grabbed a hold of it and found her arms moving outside of her own will. The words came to her like she had known them her entire life though she could never remember saying them, "Spiral Buster!"

A yellow ball with several rings surrounding them left her hands and slammed into the strange creature. A few seconds later a ball of similar nature but dark blue in color slammed into the creature coming from what she assumed was Michiru.

"Now Sailor Moon try again!" Luna instructed turning her attention back to the younger Senshi. Who’d been knocked down by an attack that both girls had missed seeing during their transformations.

"Yeah, yeah just one second," she said reaching up to her tiara again, removing it, aiming for the youma again hoping that it would actually work this time before launching it saying, "Moon Tiara Action!"

Both girl and cat let out a sigh of relief when the attack did what it was supposed to do and turned the monster to dust.

Usagi turned to face the two new sailor Senshi. So these were two of the girls she apparently was supposed to lead into battle huh? She gave them a nervous smile, slightly tugging at her skirt even though she knew the illusion was up meaning her legs should look normal, before saying, "Hi. Uh thanks for the help."

"It's fine, we were just glad to provide some assistance," the still unidentified aqua haired girl was the one to speak up first.

 "I apologize for Luna here. She hasn't quiet grasped the idea of giving _someone a say in something_ quiet yet unfortunately," Usagi said giving the cat a glare. Luna bristled at the comment. But didn't argue since technically Usagi was stating was the truth. Even though she must have tried to explain to the teen a dozen times about the necessity of the role of Senshi and that they simply couldn't back out by saying no.

"So you guys are Sailor Senshi too?" Usagi said eying the two older girls curiously.

"Yeah, um how do we get out of these outfits," Haruka said itching to get out of the strangely familiar yet foreign uniforms.

"Just concentrate on what you were wearing prior to your transformation. It will revert itself after a few minutes," Luna explained to them just as Usagi reverted her own transformation into her normal civilian self.

"Odan-Wait Usagi right," Haruka began but corrected herself mid sentence obviously remembering what had happened the last time she had called Usagi by that nickname.

"Yep!" Usagi chirped cheerfully before replying, "Haruka right?"

"Yeah and this is my friend Michiru" she said gesturing to the other girl who was looking at them curiously. Haruka turned to Michiru before saying, "You remember the girl I mentioned the other day? That's her."

"I see," Michiru said seeming to study the younger girl.

Usagi gulped a bit nervously. She wondered how the other girls would react when she finally tell them about her issues. But maybe she could convince Luna not to tell them for a little while. She knew she would have to eventually cross that bridge at some point but she wanted to earn their respect without having to worry about whether or not they would respect her with her issues.

After a second of silence Michiru spoke again, "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Usagi."

"Likewise," Usagi said giving them another friendly smile. There was a brief bit of silence before Usagi said, "You know I'm a bit surprised that you are a girl. Not that it really matters or anything."

Haruka raised an eyebrow at that, "I never said I was a guy to begin with."

 Usagi tilted her head for a second running through the brief conversation that she had had with the older girl. She realized that yes indeed Haruka had never actually stated her gender but then again there never had been exactly the time or the chance to add that in. She just had made the assumption that Haruka was a guy based on the deeper voice and the tendency to wear guy clothes.

 But now that she knew she noticed certain details that she had missed before. Now that she was taking a better look at the older girl having seen her in the Senshi uniform she could make out certain details that suggested that she was a girl. But the deeper voice and clothes hid her actual gender pretty darn well.

 "Yeah I guess so," Usagi replied giving a sheepish smile.

 "Anyways," Luna said talking for the first time in a while, "We need to get together tomorrow afternoon so we can fill you two in on everything that involves with being a Sailor Senshi, Usagi, please tell me you know Naru's address."

 Usagi nearly rolled her eyes at the tone the last part was said but managed to refrain. Rather than give Luna a response she chose to dig through her shoulder bag until she found the address book she normally carried on her. Putting it in her mouth she began digging again until she found some scrap paper. Scribbling down the address she handed it over to Michiru.

 Once the exchanged had happened Luna spoke again, "Come over after school. This is where I am living right now and Usagi is good friends with the girl who lives there. It's a good as a place as any to explain everything."

 The two older girls exchanged glances before nodding their heads. After that Luna darted off probably headed back to Naru's house. The trio fell into silence before Usagi spoke again, "So I probably should be getting going. My parents know I am out late but they are probably starting to wonder what's taking so long."

 "You know it is pretty late. I know you mentioned before that your dad will most likely freak out if driven home by us, but are you sure you don't want a ride," Haruka said after a second.

 "I would think they wouldn't be happy with how late it is anyway Haruka. Maybe that's not the best idea?" Michiru said, piping up for a second.

 "They actually know I'm out for Senshi duties," Usagi admitted pausing for a second to think before continuing, "They might be okay with you dropping me off though if Michiru is there. And they are going to have to find out there is more than one Senshi anyway. So maybe it will be okay."

 "Than follow us we'll show you where the car is parked and then we can get out of here," Haruka said as the two girls headed off down one of the car garage's many aisles. Usagi paused for a second before following closely behind.

  _So I am now the leader of two Sailor Senshi! They seem pretty nice I guess I have only met Michiru once and this was my only second time meeting Haruka so it's too early to really tell. I'll get a better idea when they come over to Naru's house tomorrow afternoon._

 _Luna is rather insistent that we inform them of everything sometime soon. But I'm worried about their reaction. I know the worry is probably unnecessary, but I cannot help it. What I’ve gone trough in the past year doesn’t help and I guess I can't expect her it in the overall scheme of things. Maybe someday I will tell them but for now I can't._ _Until next time._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it, and here is chapter 6's preview:
> 
> "Oh yeah. Well do not underestimate us! We will find you and defeat you," Usagi snapped in annoyance trying to ignore the odd sinking feeling that had sunk in. And was she shrinking?
> 
> "Sailor Moon!" Michiru said grabbing a hold of her and pulling her back to the door. She felt the odd feeling fade and she suddenly grow.
> 
> "What the?" Usagi said in confusion.
> 
> "You were de-aging after you entered the room," Haruka said as way of explanation.
> 
> "Great, just great. We have a youma that can control time by the looks of it," Usagi said snapping stepping out of the room completely.
> 
> "She is not controlling time," came a new unfamiliar voice.
> 
> The three girls jumped in surprise at the new addition. Turning Usagi saw the new arrival was a woman in her twenties it appeared dressed in a sailor senshi outfit not too different than the one she and the others bore. Haruka was the first to address her having moved herself in front of Michiru and Usagi, "Who are you?"
> 
> "Calm yourself Sailor Uranus. I am an ally, Sailor Pluto, the senshi of time and space. I have been sent to give you three a much needed hand. On your own you three won't be able to find the youma however I can lead you to her," the newly identified Sailor Pluto explained.
> 
> That's it for the preview! See you on Friday!


	6. Chapter 6: Beat the Clock!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey everybody I'm back! Sorry about last week's surprise hiatus. As I mentioned before we had an unexpected issue come up with my beta. Juliemarie12 of tumblr was wonderful enough to take over the duties until further notice. 
> 
> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best! 
> 
> To peachfairie and a random guest over on AO3 thank you for doing kudos (though I am not entirely sure what that means). Also thanks for the bookmark and comment peachfairie. On fanfiction.net to Rinishi, tototo, Haely Potter, and AzarathMetrionZ for favoriting the story. To Romantic Haberdashery and Light-Sakura for following the story. And to buttaflykissesxoxo, AzarathMetrionZ, LoveInTheBattlefield, Light-Sakura, and PuffGirl1952 for reviewing the story.
> 
> And of course a thank you to all of the unknown readers of my story.
> 
> Third; as usual I don't own Sailor Moon, they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi.
> 
> So at long last please enjoy chapter 6!

Dear Shingo,

Mom used to always tell us not rush things and let things comes as they will, right? I never quite understood the logic behind that until today…

“How cute!” Usagi exclaimed. It had been a couple of days since Haruka and Michiru had woken as Sailor Senshi. The girls seemed to be adjusting well to their duties as senshi of love and justice, probably more so than Usagi. 

While she was starting to accept her fate as an apparent warrior of love and justice, it was still hard to swallow the lack of say she’d had in the matter of becoming Sailor Moon. And, admittedly, she still held some resentment toward Luna because of that. On the other hand, Haruka and Michiru seemed to have accepted their new duties right off the bat without much question, which pleased Luna greatly.

The older girls got their first real taste of their duties as Sailor Senshi when a youma had taken over a nearby cram school. The enemy had been using some software to drain the energy this time. 

They had found out about the base of operations by accident. Usagi had been trying to befriend the new transfer student Ami at Naru’s suggestion. The trio had gone to the local arcade and when Ami had accidentally left behind a copy of the software, Luna insisted on running a check on it, despite the other girls’ protests. The scan found the malicious software. After summoning the other two girls via cell phone, the Sailor Senshi had entered the cram school and had eliminated the youma with little trouble.

Today was a rare day off for all the girls. Haruka and Michiru had after school activities back at their school, Mugen Gaken. Since they couldn’t do much now that wouldn’t disrupt the other girls’ plans, Luna let them off the hook for once, so Usagi and Naru decided to hit the mall. At the moment they were perusing a new clock shop selling some cute clocks. They kept in mind Luna’s warnings about any new shops. But, honestly, they didn’t have to go into every shop expecting an enemy to pop out, did they? Usagi sure hoped not. Otherwise, her life was going to become a whole new level of complicated, which she did not need.

“I know, right? Aren’t you glad I dragged you here?” Naru chirped.

“Yeah, I guess. Though I’m not sure I can afford any of them,” Usagi admitted, pulling her wallet out to check. She had used most of her allowance going to the arcade and going to see the fortune teller. She usually dropped by at least once a day. The more she had the readings done, the more fascinated she became with the supernatural. Also, something odd had come up in the last reading before the cram school youma. Maybe they could provide an insight into possible youma battles? There was no conclusive proof from one occurrence, but it made her feel better.

“You used that much money up at the arcade?” Naru asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“What? The Sailor V game was really fun,” Usagi defended herself. No one knew she was going to see the old man and she preferred to keep it that way. The others would probably find it silly or stupid, so the visits were done entirely in secret. She took another look at the cute clock, “Ah well, maybe another time.”

“Well if we aren’t going to actually be able to afford something, we should probably get moving,” Naru said, giving her arm a tug. Usagi turned away from the clock and followed Naru off toward more shops. ,

_SCENE_

The next morning, Naru’s mother got everyone up unusually early, much to Naru’s chagrin. Luna was unusually quiet, having been out on an ultimately fruitless late night patrol, while Naru was urgently pushed out the door to go to school a good two hours early in spite of her protests.

Up until that point she thought her mom was just feeling odd, then she started noticing others behaving in the same manner. After living in Tokyo for three years now she had gotten pretty well adjusted to the big city mentality of always rushing. Today, however, everyone seemed to be taking it to a whole new level. She saw other stores opening early, much like her mother’s jewelry story. 

However, she knew something really was odd when she stopped by Usagi’s apartment only to be told by her mom that she had all ready left. Now Usagi wasn’t one to really run late for class; she had outgrown that habit when she and her family had moved to Tokyo. But for her to have left this early, let alone on her own, was unheard of. Naru wished Luna had accompanied her to meet up with Usagi like she did on most mornings. The cat’s knowledge of the unusual would come in handy right about now. 

Without the cat there, Naru chose to focus on getting to school. The best thing to do would be to find Usagi and ask what had happened overnight to cause her early departure. Even though she made it to school way ahead of time, she saw a lot of her classmates rushing in around her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Usagi in their classroom and took her normal seat next to her best friend who – so far – seemed to be behaving normally.

“Naru, there you are! How are you doing?” Usagi said, giving her a relieved smile.

“Okay, I guess. Mom pretty much shoved me out the door this morning,” Naru said after a second, trying to ignore the pacing Haruna-sensei as they waited for the rest of their classmates.

“Yours, too? Mom insisted on getting me up at 6:00 and out the door by 7:00. She swore that if I didn’t leave I would be late for class,” Usagi said, scratching the back of her head.

“Yeah. I probably should have called your house to see if you had been pushed out like me, but it’s so weird. I’ve never seen anything like today. Everyone seems to be in more of a hurry to do something or get somewhere than usual,” Naru observed.

“I noticed that, too. Maybe the enemy is moving again? Though, this is unusually very out in the open for them,” Usagi commented, her voice dropping to a whisper when she brought up the Dark Kingdom. Though, with the way their classmates were acting, she probably could have been yelling from the rooftop and none of them would have noticed.

Naru was saved from responding by Haruna-sensei slamming her bag onto the desk. The girls exchanged glances before shrugging in confusion. Haruna may be an okay teacher but she did have her quirks, so they were used to her doing odd stuff by now. However, as Usagi watched her pile stuff into her bag, appearing to be preparing to leave, she had to think this was one of the oddest things the teacher had done.

Finally, when it appeared that she had gotten everything together, she turned to the class and said, “Since it appears that most of your classmates don’t know the definition of timeliness, I am going to let you study on your own. Goodbye.”

With the last word, she walked out of the room. Most of their classmates took it as their cue to pack their stuff up, leaving as Usagi and Naru exchanged a glance in confusion. This was definitely a first. Naru was the one to break the silence with, “Find Luna?”

Usagi nodded, starting to put her own things together before confirming, “Find Luna.”

_SCENE_

As Usagi and Naru were setting out to find Luna and figure out what was going on, the aforementioned cat was out on the streets of Juuban, watching what had to be one of the most chaotic days she had seen unfold since she had awakened after the fall of the Moon Kingdom. Luna wandered along the street in the general direction of Usagi and Naru’s school, hoping to meet up with the other girls before the day got even more out of hand.

“Luna!” 

The cat glanced up in surprise when her name was called by a somewhat familiar voice, watching the two older girls as they approached. They weren’t showing any of the same symptoms as most people. That was good, at least. Apparently they had managed to avoid whatever the Dark Kingdom was using to drain energy this time around.

She led them into a side alley to talk. Even though she doubted anyone would notice her talking, considering their behavior, she wasn’t going to risk anything. Once out of sight of the street, she gave both girls a smile and said, “Haruka, Michiru, good to see you two are behaving normally.”

“Likewise, though it seems like we’re in the minority. We weren’t even sure if we would be able to get over to this side of town because of the craziness this is causing with the traffic,” Haruka confessed. It had been a madhouse at school and on the freeway.

“This is the enemy’s doing, right?” Michiru asked. It was the most logical explanation for the sudden change in behavior of so many people. While she and Haruka preferred to keep to themselves for their own reasons, it was hard to miss their classmates’ behaviors.

“Yes,” Luna said, pausing for a second before continuing, “Unfortunately, we don’t know what they are doing to cause this behavioral pattern. We can’t go up to everyone and ask what they have done in the past 24 hours and hope to identify the cause. I’m hoping Usagi may have a clue from whatever she sees in class today since I’m guessing you two don’t know?”

“Not a clue,” Michiru answered.

Luna sighed before replying, “I figured as much.”

The trio fell into silence for a moment before Luna added, “Well, I guess we should find Usagi and Naru first. Maybe they will know something else.”

Haruka and Michiru fell into step behind the cat as she led the way toward the other girls’ school. Inwardly, Luna hoped the girls hadn’t wandered too far.

_SCENE_

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the two groups to meet up. A quick text from Haruka to Usagi confirmed that both groups were looking for the other. They chose to meet in an alley not far from the mall that Usagi and Naru had visited to the day before.

“So, anyone have an idea? I mean, we know it’s the enemy, right? But we don’t have a clue what they are using this time as their method of getting energy. So, ideas?” Haruka asked, breaking the silence.

Usagi hesitantly suggested, “I’m not too sure, but what about that new clock shop that opened near here? I know my mom got a clock from there yesterday; I saw her putting it up in her and Dad’s bedroom. When I got up in the morning they were acting weird. That may be a place to start.”

“Seems like as good of a plan as any,” Luna agreed promptly.

They made their way over to the clock shop only to find it strangely closed. All of the other shops were open and seemed to be in the same chaotic mess as the entire city. 

“Uh, maybe they weren’t affected by the enemy?” Naru said uncertainly. She knew the odds were very unlikely, but she could hope, right?

Instead, her words earned amused snorts from Usagi and Luna. Haruka and Michiru were too inexperienced at this point to realize that normal was starting to look very abnormal when it comes to the enemy. In fact the normal was becoming an identifier of either possible enemies or those who hadn’t been victimized.

“Yeah, but all the other shops are open around here, even if their workers are all acting weird. So either they somehow avoided the actual enemy or they are the enemy. Something just doesn’t seem right. If they were a true business, wouldn’t they go ahead and open to keep up with any competitors once they saw what was going on?” Usagi observed, pointing at a couple of nearby shops that, indeed, had people running in and out of them frantically.

“Precisely, Usagi. You are beginning to think more and more like the sailor senshi I want you to become,” Luna said, beaming up at her briefly. “Okay, since this looks like it is something that must be taken care of via senshi duty, we need to get out of this location and changed. Let’s find a bathroom or somewhere private and get you three transformed.”

“Naru, you know this mall the best out of us. Where is the nearest private place to transform?” Usagi asked, turning to her friend.

“There aren’t too many places away from prying eyes, but I think I know of one. Come on,” Naru said, leading them off in another direction. 

_SCENE_

Fifteen minutes later, the three girls had transformed and stood in front of the supposed clock shop. Luna was attempting to convince a reluctant Usagi to use her tiara to open the doorway.

“What about property damage?” Usagi asked, more concerned about that than dealing with the supposed youma.

“Usagi, if it’s the enemy hideout the last thing we need to be worrying about is the cost of the door,” Luna snapped.

“Says the cat who doesn’t have to pay any expenses,” Usagi retorted.

“Usagi, if you are really worried about the cost of expenses, Sailor Uranus and I can take care of it if the tiara does that much damage,” Michiru interrupted.

“Well, if you are sure,” Usagi agreed after a moment At the older girl’s nod she finally removed her tiara and threw it at the door, yelling, “Moon Tiara Action!” 

The tiara ripped a strange glowing green hole in the door. Usagi stared at it for a second and muttered, “I really hope that doesn’t cause actual damage to the building.”

“You just opened a hole in a pocket dimension, I doubt it will actually do damage to the building,” Luna sighed.

“How do you know? We’ve never faced anything in a pocket dimension before,” Usagi snapped, her annoyance evident in her voice.

“Usagi–” Michiru began.

“Yeah, I know you’ll take care of it if there is any real damage, but it still doesn’t stop me from being nervous,” Usagi continued with a sheepish grin.

“Well, let’s at least check it out,” Haruka said after a few seconds of silence. Naru and Luna opted to stay behind and keep an eye out for anything else strange while keeping customers away.

Usagi was the first one through the hole, followed by the two older girls. The portal closed behind them as soon as they got through. 

“Guess we are going to have to find another way home,” Haruka muttered to Michiru as they glanced around the room. It was empty with the exception of a gigantic cuckoo clock in the center of the room. 

Usagi, who had moved away from the older girls to look a bit closer at the clock, nearly jumped five feet in the air when she heard a voice from behind her hiss, “What are you doing here?”

Turning around, she saw what had to be the newest youma. Dark-skinned and red-haired with eyes like a cat, she was glaring at them with an air of suspicion. Usagi was the first of the group to find her voice to say, “I the pretty suited soldier of love and justice Sailor Moon. For disturbing the peace and disturbing people’s time, I will punish you!”

“Well, you will have to catch me before you can defeat me,” the youma sneered. She disappeared into a strange portal that appeared to be centered around the grandfather clock.

“Shit,” Haruka muttered, earning an elbow in the ribs from Michiru.

“Should we chase her?” Michiru asked.

“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice in the matter,” Usagi said after a few seconds of staring at the portal. She did not like the feel of this, but they had to defeat this youma, right? If they did not and people continued to act the way they had been all day, who knew what would happen.

“Then let’s go!” Haruka said, leading the way into the portal with Usagi and Michiru following right behind her.

_SCENE_

As the girls attempted to chase down the youma, somewhere far away from Tokyo stood a pair of gates. The only soul to be found was their dark green haired guardian. She had been performing the duty for as long as she could remember. Her only friend and occasional companion came from the future: the future heiress to the Moon Kingdom. Of course Small Lady couldn’t come often, but any break in monotony of being the guardian of time and space that didn’t involve fighting random youma was nice. But a visit from anyone other than her friend from the future was extremely rare, so when a dark haired man appeared at the gates, she wondered why. It was not that she didn’t recognize his face; she knew that face from her memories of the time before she was assigned to the gates. 

The woman gave a bow in greeting, “Welcome, Lord Chronos.”

“No need for formalities right now, my daughter. I am here to discuss something of great importance,” he said, waving her out of the bow.

“Of course, Father,” she said, wondering what was going on. The last time he visited it was to relieve her of the duty of being the guardian. He had wanted her to keep an eye on the princess’s mother during the pregnancy for reasons he had never explained. She had used the time to bring her education, and some of the degrees she had managed to collect during rare down times, up to date while watching the princess’s mother.

“I am relieving you of your duties as guardian of time and space. It has come to my attention that your abilities and education would be better served in 20th century Tokyo with the princess and the other sailor senshi,” he explained.

“But the gates-” Pluto protested. She couldn’t just leave them unattended; that could be disastrous.

“Will be taken care of in the same manner as when you kept an eye on the princess’s mother. You are needed more in Tokyo than you are here. I am dismissing you from your duties as the guardian of the time gates until further notice. You will retain most of your abilities, but your primary duty will now be to help guide and protect the princess while helping the newly awakened sailor senshi.”

“And Small Lady?” Pluto raised the question. While she kind of understood the change in duties, she had gotten rather attached to the small, pink-haired moon child.

“Will be brought up to speed as to why you are no longer guarding the gates. Remember you will see her again some day far in the future,” he assured her.

“Understood, Father,” Pluto replied. 

She scrambled to her rarely used room, pulling out the suitcases she had last used over a decade ago and began to pack. It had been a long time since she had done this. Once packed, she stuffed them into the sub space pocket and returned to where her father waited.

“One last instruction: you may help the Sailor Senshi as Sailor Pluto and you may provide advice in your civilian form, but for now they are not to know they are one and the same. One of your primary jobs outside of being a member of the sailor senshi will be to help guide the princess through the tough times she has experienced. It would be best, for now, for her not to know you are a senshi until you’ve earned her trust. Understood?” he instructed as he made a gesture, causing the gates to open.

“Understood, Father,” she answered with a slight bow.

“Good. Now you will be brought straight into a battle, so be prepared to launch an attack. One of the Dark Kingdom’s youma is attempting to mess with the fabric of the fourth dimension. Your job is to give Sailor Moon enough of an opening to attack,” he said, giving her one last set of instructions.

“Of course,” she said, then stepped through the gates. She made it a few paces before glancing one last time at the closing doors. It felt odd to leave behind her home of many years, but it always did when she was called on for other duties. She would just have to swallow the oddness of the situation and face her new set of duties, she reasoned as she turned her back on the door and let her abilities guide her to the other senshi.

_SCENE_

The trio slowly made their way across what best could be described as a room, opening and closing doors as they went. They were mostly silent until Michiru mused, "Sailor Moon, I feel like we should actually be going into the rooms."

Usagi chewed on her lip nervously, taking a moment to think. True, they weren't getting anywhere, so maybe Michiru's suggestion wouldn't hurt. She sighed, turned to the older girl, and said, "Okay, but we go into the rooms in pairs. If one of us is going to end up in trouble, she should not be alone. The third person will stay outside just in case."

"Sounds like a fairly good idea," Michiru said, nodding in agreement. An exchanged glance with Haruka had the other girl slowly nodding as well.

Usagi and Michiru tried the next door, the former taking a deep breath before taking a reluctant step in. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then, for the first time since they had gone through the portal, they heard the youma say, "You are never go to find me this way."

"Oh yeah? Well, do not underestimate us! We will find you and defeat you," Usagi snapped in annoyance, trying to ignore the odd sinking feeling in her stomach. And was she shrinking?

"Sailor Moon!" Michiru exclaimed, grabbing ahold of her and pulling her back to the door. She felt the odd feeling fade as she suddenly grew.

"What the?" Usagi murmured in confusion.

"You were de-aging after you entered the room," Haruka explained.

"Great, just great. We have a youma that can control time by the looks of it," Usagi grumbled, stepping out of the room completely.

"She is not controlling time," came a new voice.

The three girls jumped in surprise. Turning, Usagi saw the new arrival was a woman in her twenties dressed in a sailor senshi outfit not too different than those she and the others bore. Haruka was the first to address her, having moved herself in front of Michiru and Usagi, "Who are you?"

"Calm yourself, Sailor Uranus. I am an ally, Sailor Pluto, the senshi of time and space. I have been sent to give you three a much needed hand. On your own, you three won't be able to find the youma. However, I can lead you to her," the newly identified Sailor Pluto explained. 

The two older girls exchanged glances, not sure what to think of the new development. Usagi frowned, finding it odd how the new senshi had randomly appeared. On the other hand, she was wearing the outfit of a sailor senshi and she said she could lead them to the youma, which suggested she was not the enemy. Usagi thought it over quickly then decided, "All right, take us to the youma."

"Sailor Moon-" Haruka began in surprise.

"She is wearing the uniform of a sailor senshi. I think we can trust her," Usagi broke into the impending argument. Haruka paused and thought it over before nodding her head in agreement. Sailor Pluto moved around the trio and began leading them in a different direction.

"Still don't like this," Haruka muttered to Michiru.

"I am not so sure about this either, but we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Michiru said, trying to reassure her.

"I guess," Haruka conceded. She still wasn't so sure about the new arrival. Heck, she and Michiru were just starting to understand their duty and become friends with the youngest member of the group. But so far Usagi had proved trustworthy, so maybe they could also trust the new arrival? Haruka certainly hoped so. Otherwise they were going to have problems.

After a few minutes of walking, Sailor Pluto came to a halt in front of another one of the many doors. It honestly didn't look any different than the rest, but she seemed to think so. She pushed the door open, leading them into a strange room with clocks whirling around. Haruka and Michiru braced for an attack and Usagi glanced around, wondering where the youma waited.

Usagi frowned as she sensed growing power from the new arrival. It seemed like she was powering up to attack, but why? The youma was nowhere in sight. Before she could ask, she noticed a lilac ball not much different in shape and general composition than the ones Haruka and Michiru used for their attack beginning to form. Well, that confirmed she was powering up to attack, but what? Before Usagi could speak, Sailor Pluto aimed the ball in a random direction and whispered, "Dimension Dance."

She, Haruka, and Michiru nearly jumped a foot in the air when the youma came crashing down onto what appeared to be the floor. Haruka, who she could feel had been powering up behind her, unleashed her attack at the youma, shouting, "Spiral Buster!"

Sailor Uranus’s knocked the youma back a distance. Not giving the youma enough to time to fully collect itself, Usagi reached up, removed her tiara, aimed it at the youma, and, as she threw it, yelled, "Moon Tiara Action!

Thankfully, the two attacks had done enough damage and it dissipated into dust. Usagi breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Sailor Pluto, smiling. "Thank you for your help."

"It is my duty to stop those who are interfering with the time stream. I am just glad I could be of some assistance," Sailor Pluto said as Usagi watched the pocket dissolve away around them. Once it faded, they were standing in a completely empty room.; the grandfather clock had vanished.

Sailor Pluto gave them slight bow. "I must take my leave from here but we will see each other again. For now, take care," she said, not giving them a chance to respond before she opened up her own portal and stepped through it. They did not get a chance to follow, either, as the portal closed a second later. 

"How odd," Usagi muttered to herself. She turned back to her friends and they all returned to their normal forms before stepping out the door into the street, where people were finally coming to their senses. Naru and Luna were waiting exactly where they left them, both looking a bit concerned. Usagi gave them a reassuring smile and said, "Don’t look so worried. The youma is gone."

Luna sighed in relief as Haruka spoke up, "Though, we did have a weird visitor."

"Visitor? What kind?" Luna hissed, sounding half annoyed, half worried.

"Some sailor senshi showed up saying she was Sailor Pluto and the senshi of time and space," Usagi explained.

Luna frowned, thinking. Something had felt odd about awakening Haruka and Michiru as the senshi of sky and sea. That feeling only increased when she tried to bring up her Moon Kingdom memories of Sailor Pluto. Much like with Uranus and Neptune, the memories appeared to exist, but she could not for the life of her recall them. She would have to consult with central about the nature of the new addition.

She started to speak only to realize that the girls had walked off at some point while she was lost in thought. Sighing in annoyance, she followed after them hoping, that the newly appeared senshi of time and space wasn't trouble.

_SCENE_

 

Meanwhile in the far north, Queen Beryl sat before the minions she had called for a meeting, hidden from Usagi and the newly awakened senshi of Uranus and Neptune.

“Queen Beryl, at your request we attached the devices to Kyuurene in order to figure out what was happening to our minions. Unfortunately, it took some time to get the tapes working properly after the damage caused to them when she was eliminated. We have an answer, but you aren’t going to like it,” Jadeite said, holding out the recording so she could take it.

“Well, let’s see what we have here,” Beryl stated, bringing up the visuals so they could all see what was happening.

It started out normally enough. Kyuurene was chasing some human who had managed to get his hands on the tape they were supposed to be using for this mission. Then, a voice rang through, surprising both Kyuurene and the man. The youma turned her attention away from the man, long enough that he took off running, and she made eye contact with a girl wearing a familiar uniform – one that Queen Beryl recognized but hadn’t seen in over a millennium. The queen let out a hiss that turned into a disbelieving exclamation when the senshi of Uranus and Neptune made their first appearance. Beryl stopped the recording there, now knowing full well what had been happening her minions.

“So they have finally begun to awaken again, have they?” Beryl said after a pause, her tone conveying severe annoyance and distaste. It had never occurred to her that the senshi may also be reincarnated. She and her followers had only managed recently to escape their imprisonment imposed by Queen Serenity and reawaken the men that were the Shitennou in the past life. 

“It appears so. Most likely the moon senshi was responsible for the defeat of the last set of youma we sent out here in Japan. We aren’t sure how long these two new members have been awakened, but judging by the fact they were receiving specific instructions during the battle, it is very likely that they just awoke prior to the battle,” Jadeite responded. 

“All right, we will have to bring it up a notch. I want you to speed up the work on our Dreamland project. I will send Murido to help put the finishing touches to it. We will try to lay low for now and gather energy from there. In the meantime we will work on a plan to eliminate the senshi completely. The sooner they are eliminated, the better, understood?” Beryl instructed. 

“Understood, my queen,” Jadeite said before teleporting out.

Once left alone to her own thoughts Beryl rewound the tape back to Uranus and Neptune’s appearance. She frowned; this was not a good sign. Her memories had faded some over the past millennium but she knew one thing for sure: these two were never supposed to appear unless the world was in dire need of help. Part of the reason they had sent youma to the outer edges of the solar system during the battle for the Moon Kingdom was to keep the outer three from arriving to assist the younger, less powerful senshi. What were these two during here instead of the senshi that had specifically been given the duty of protecting the princess?

So we now have a third senshi added to the team, even though it appears that she is working in the same manner as that Tuxedo Kamen guy. I wonder when we will see her again and if she will ever work with us without just showing up at random for a battle?

Your big sister,  
Usagi Tsukino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope it was worth the wait. Chapter 7 should hopefully go up on Monday. For now here is a preview:
> 
> One afternoon when Luna was out patrolling and Haruka and Michiru had yet to arrive from their trip across town Usagi was talking about the latest in the series of doctors to Naru. Naru who had looked her up on the computer was surprised by her appearance turned to Usagi and said, "Is that really her hair color?"
> 
> Usagi laughed a bit before responding, "Apparently yes. I asked that first thing out when the appointment started. It amazes me how many odd hair colors are there. You have Ami's dark blue hair, Michiru's teal colored hair, and now my new doctor's dark green hair."
> 
> "Yeah, but her whole coloring is odd. At least with Ami and Michiru they have semi normal eye color. This new doctors of yours has red eyes. I do not think I have ever seen anyone with red eyes before," Naru said tilting her head as she took a good look at the newest doctor to attempt to figure out what exactly was wrong was Usagi.
> 
> "Yeah well in spite of her coloring she was actually pretty nice. Its too early to say this in a 100 percent manner but maybe I will consider keeping her," Usagi said after a second of thought.
> 
> "Really, you haven't kicked her out?"Naru said 
> 
> "Nope," Usagi admitted.
> 
> "Really?" Naru said an eyebrow going up in surprise before continuing, "Wow its been a while since a doctor has made it past the first appointment."
> 
> "Yeah I know but so far she seems okay. I will have to wait and see how the next go before deciding whether she is a keep but so far she hasn't done anything on my no no list yet. Which is kind of unusual. A good unusual but unusual none the less," Usagi said tilting her head as she ran the appointment through her head. It had been a good appointment. The first good appointment in at least two months that she could think of. Which was a nice change from her usually storming out of the appointments as the doctors saw her more of a mystery than a person.
> 
> "Wow that's almost a compliment coming from you for a doctor," Naru said her surprised tone increasing at that.
> 
> "I just wish I knew why my results were so unusual in the hospital and what happened to cause me to keep me from really moving on past this." Usagi admitted.
> 
> "You think the appointments maybe preventing you from fulling moving on the earthquake," Naru said quirking another eyebrow in surprise.
> 
> "Maybe, I don't know, I know that's not how it is supposed to work but maybe if I was left alone maybe I could move on. Only god knows. And at this rate I am not going to find out whether or not leaving me alone would change things," Usagi said pulling a loose strand of hair in annoyance. 
> 
> "Well maybe sometime soon your parents will finally stop forcing you to go those appointments," Naru said hopefully.
> 
> "Hah that will happen when hell freezes over," Usagi said with an amused snort.
> 
> That's it for the preview. See you Monday!


	7. Nightmare's Amusement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: First off to my FF readers, I am almost positive that most of you haven't read Chapter 6. So please press the back button now and do so. Where the AN was for the last week there is now chapter 6. Unless you want to be completely lost on a certain factor in this chapter please return to chapter 6.
> 
> All right guys first off apologies for the slight delay with this chapter. I had a medical procedure done on Monday, wasn't feeling too great and since juliemarie12 still hadn't gotten me the chapter at the point I wanted to go to bed I decided to call it quits for the night and upload in the morning. Like I am doing now.
> 
> Thanks to xJxMxNx for favoriting and alerting the story. As always thanks to my unknown readers.
> 
> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!   
> And of course a thank you to all of the unknown readers of my story.
> 
> Third; as usual I don't own Sailor Moon, they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi.
> 
> Finally, thanks to juliemarie12 for betaing the story. Wouldn't be here without you!
> 
> So at long last please enjoy chapter 6!
> 
> One last note. TO MY FF READERS GO BACK AND READ CHAPTER 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_Dear Shingo,_

_After a strange period of quiet that lasted an unprecedented two weeks, the Dark Kingdom made their move again. We aren’t sure why they kept quiet for so long, but it was nice to have some normalcy for a while. We haven't been able to find the newest senshi, Sailor Pluto, but I believe we soon will. But, as I was saying, the Dark Kingdom made their move for the first time in a while and you will never guess where..._

In the two weeks since the clock youma’s defeat, Haruka and Michiru still came over after school, but for now there was not much any of them could do since they lacked the location of the enemy base.

One afternoon, while Luna was out patrolling and Haruka and Michiru had yet to arrive from across town, Usagi was talking to Naru about the latest in her series of doctors. Naru, who had looked the doctor up on the computer, asked skeptically, "Is that really her hair color?"

Usagi laughed and responded, "Apparently, yes. I asked that first thing when the appointment started. It amazes me how many odd hair colors are out there. You have Ami's dark blue hair, Michiru's aquamarine hair, and now my new doctor's dark green hair."

"Yeah, but her whole coloring is odd. At least with Ami and Michiru they have semi-normal eye colors. This new doctor of yours has red eyes. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone with red eyes before," Naru said, tilting her head as she took a good look at the newest doctor to attempt figuring out exactly what was wrong was Usagi.

"Well, in spite of her coloring, she was actually pretty nice. It’s too early to say for sure, but maybe I will consider keeping her," Usagi said after pondering thought.

"You haven't kicked her out?"

"Nope.”

"Really?" Naru asked, an eyebrow rising in surprise. "Wow! It’s been a while since a doctor has made it past the first appointment."

"Yeah, I know, but so far she seems okay. I’ll have to wait and see how the next appointments go before deciding if she is a keeper, but so far she hasn't done anything on my ‘no-no’ list. It’s kind of unusual – a good unusual, but unusual nonetheless," Usagi said, tilting her head as she ran the appointment through her head. It had been a good appointment – the first good appointment in at least two months – which was a nice change from her storming out of the appointments because the doctors saw her more of a mystery than a person.

"Wow, that's almost a compliment coming from you," Naru noted, amazed.

"I just wish I knew why my results were so unusual in the hospital and what happened to cause me to keep from really moving on," Usagi admitted.

"You think the appointments may be preventing you from fully moving on from the earthquake?" Naru quirked her eyebrow in surprise.

"Maybe, I don't know. I know that's not how it is supposed to work, but maybe if I was left alone I could move on. Only god knows, and at this rate I am not going to find out whether or not leaving me alone would change things," Usagi sighed, pulling a loose strand of hair in annoyance.

"Well, maybe sometime soon your parents will finally stop forcing you to go those appointments," Naru said hopefully.

"Hah! That will happen when hell freezes over," Usagi replied with an amused snort.

"Yeah, well, they have to run out of doctors eventually," Naru pointed out.

"Naru, we live in one of the most populated cities in Japan. I doubt that is going to happen anytime in the recent future."

"True, But, hey, a girl can hope," Naru said, giving her an encouraging smile.

Usagi managed a smile back before replying, "Yeah, that is true, but I think it’s more likely that I’ll find a suitable doctor sometime far in the future."

“Does this one really have a chance at being suitable?” Naru asked curiously.

“I can’t say yet. It would be nice to find a suitable doctor for once, but it wouldn’t be the first time that I thought I had found a doctor that I actually liked only to watch it back fire. I’ll give her a couple of appointments, I guess, before I fully rule her out,” Usagi said, tapping the pencil against her head thoughtfully. It would be nice, but most doctors made it three appointments tops before she began having issues with them. But maybe, just this once, things would be different, she thought before turning her attention back to her homework.

* * *

A few days later, Michiru brought in an article to their daily afternoon meetings that suggested that the Dark Kingdom might finally be on the move again. Around fifty customers had disappeared from the newly opened Dreamland amusement park in the past week.

Luna frowned, glancing at the article. "This is very blatant, even for them, but I have to agree that is likely one of their plots."

"Should we go investigate the place then?" Usagi asked hopefully. She wanted to see the new amusement park but school and everything had been in the way. Even if it was an enemy base, it sounded like a lot of fun.

"I guess so," Luna agreed, nodding after a second of thought.

"Then it’s settled!" Usagi exclaimed, punching the air in excitement.

* * *

Usagi arrived home a few hours later. The plan was to meet at the park entrance on Sunday morning and spend the day exploring the park to look for evidence of the Dark Kingdom. Now, she had to convince her parents to give her the money needed to pay for the entrance fee. Her mom was home at the moment but her dad was missing, possibly pulling another late night at the office.

“Mom?” Usagi asked, settling down at the table in the small dining area to watch her cook.

“Ah, Usagi, you’re back from Naru’s. How was the meeting? Any sign of this ‘Dark Kingdom’ you and Luna mentioned?” her mom inquired, looking up from the cooking momentarily.

“It went well and kind of. We think we managed to track down another operation but we’re not 100-percent sure,” Usagi admitted, tugging at the hem of her shirt nervously.

“Really, where?” she asked, looking at her daughter. Usagi had not been hesitant to talk about the previous bases before, so she wondered why this time different.

“We think they may be the ones responsible for the disappearances at Dreamland,” Usagi answered uneasily.

Her mom frowned, “Dreamland? That’s the new amusement park that opened a month ago, right? I thought Luna said they usually worked in secret; that seems very out in the open.”

“Yeah, I was surprised at the suggestion, too. But Luna was very insistent we at least investigate the place to eliminate any possibility that they are using it to collect energy,” Usagi explained.

“All right, but this had better not get in the way of your studies,” her mom relented.

“Thanks. It won’t. We are going to meet at the entrance on Sunday morning. But, um, first I need the entrance fee,” Usagi admitted, a bit embarrassed at having to ask for it. When she had used up the week’s allowance on the tarot card readings, she hadn’t thought she would be visiting Dreamland over the weekend.

“You used the money on the tarot card readings again,” her mom stated, annoyed.

“Yeah, but I probably wouldn’t have done as many readings if I’d known,” Usagi replied.

“You need to cut back on those again. I know you said it gives you control that you feel like you have lost, but you cannot come to us every time you need money for a mission. You need to learn to save some of your money for these kind of things,” her mom lectured, sounding more exasperated by the minute.

 “I’ll try, but for this week can I please have the entrance money?” Usagi begged, holding her hands up pleadingly.

Her mom sighed before saying, “All right, just this once. But don’t expect for us to pay for every little thing involving fighting the youma, understood?”

“Understood. Thanks, Mom!” Usagi said, giving her a smile before grabbing her bag and heading for her room.

* * *

The next day the four girls met up at Dreamland's main entrance. Luna was forced to stay home due to the park’s restriction on pets, so this would be the girls’ first investigation on their own.

Usagi and Naru managed to get there a bit early and made their way over to the entrance to wait for the other girls.

“I don’t see what’s so suspicious about this place,” Usagi muttered, looking around the entrance area curiously. It didn’t appear to be any different than any other amusement park. Admittedly, all of the other Dark Kingdom’s bases of operations had looked perfectly normal, too.

Naru sweat dropped in response, thinking about how normal all of the other bases had looked normal at first inspection. Though, she had to admit an amusement park for a base seemed to be over the top, even for them. She spoke after a few seconds, “Well, at least we can enjoy Dreamland. I heard it’s supposed to be pretty nice.”

“Even with its issue of people coming and never going out?” Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Supposedly, yes,” Naru answered uncertainly. It did sound extremely absurd, but that is what she had been hearing.

Before Usagi could reply, they heard Haruka call, “Yoh, Koneko.”

Usagi grinned, turning to greet the older girls upon hearing Haruka’s new nickname for her. Her not allowing the older girl to call her “odango” had caused her to create a new nickname. She said, “Haruka, Michiru, glad you guys made it.”

“Likewise. Have you seen anything that screams unusual yet?” Michiru asked, glancing around the front entrance.

“No, but they have concealed the fronts from any weirdness on previous occasions,” Usagi said, looking around again.

“Well, I guess we better go in,” Haruka said as the girls made their way to the entrance.

* * *

In about fifteen minutes, the girls had made their way to the center of the park. “Well, still no sign of anything weird yet. Want to split up and look around for now?” Usagi inquired.

“Okay. How about you two take the eastern half and we’ll take the western half, then we can meet up again in an hour back here. If either group hasn’t shown up in ten minutes, we go looking for them,” Haruka suggested.

“Sounds good. See you in an hour?” Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow in question. After receiving an affirmative, the girls went their separate ways.

Usagi and Naru made their way through the park. After a few minutes Usagi mused, “You know, everything looks pretty normal. Maybe it is just a coincidence?”

Naru raised her eyebrow at the question and Usagi sighed.

“I know the odds are very much against that, but one can hope, right? Besides, an amusement park for their base? That seems to be going over the top. I mean, how long would it have taken to plan and build this? It seems like they went extremely overboard,” Usagi pondered.

 “Yeah, I can see where you are coming from. Maybe it is a case of extreme coincidence and some serial kidnapper is actually involved in this, not the Dark Kingdom. But after everything that has happened in the past month, the odds seem to be more in favor of the Dark Kingdom. We should at least eliminate any possibility of the Dark Kingdom’s involvement,” Naru agreed, glancing around. “So, where to now?”

Usagi pulled out the park map, “Well, they seem to like to set themselves up in buildings, so maybe we should try some of the buildings around here first.”

“Any buildings in particular seem like a good one to try first?” Naru asked, looking at the map over her friend’s shoulder.

“This building over here may be a good place to start. It says that they have a show starting in fifteen minutes,” Usagi said, pointing to a nearby building on the map.

"Seems like as good of a suggestion as any," Naru nodded, seeing the building.

* * *

Meanwhile, Haruka and Michiru decided to take a train ride around the park, figuring that the trip around the entire park was a good way to spot possible hiding spots for the enemy.

"Anything yet?" Haruka asked as she looked from one side of the train to the other. Nothing really stood out, but Usagi had mentioned before that the Dark Kingdom was very good at hiding their bases. Even though they were still inexperienced, the older girls noticed that their two previous fights backed that up.

"No, there aren’t many buildings to hold a base. I doubt they would be stupid enough to set it up in the cooperate offices, so it has to be in an attraction building. I've only seen a couple of those, one of which on Usagi and Naru's side of the park. You?" Michiru answered as she continued to look around.

"Not much here either; probably the same buildings you saw," Haruka admitted as she glanced around. It was a bit awkward to ride the kiddy-sized train, especially with her height, but it was the only thing that encompassed the entire park quickly. They would search any buildings they found on foot after the train ride.

"Did the articles you found mention anything about a pattern in the disappearances?" Haruka asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"No. The police and the people in charge of Dreamland are trying to keep this as much hidden as possible. The police don't want to talk about it much; I do not think they have much information on the missing people's actions. Either that or they are worried that talking about it may cause the spirits to come back to haunt them. Though, a couple articles did mention the missing people had expressed interest in visiting the park's Candy Mansion," Michiru said, reviewing the articles she in her head.

"We should visit there after we got off of this," Haruka suggested.

"I would normally say yes, but it's on Usagi and Naru's side of the park. I’m hoping they figure out enough to make a stop there before we meet up or we will end up going there after," Michiru replied.

"How much longer is this train ride, anyway? My legs are starting to cramp from sitting in this position," Haruka complained.

"The worker said it takes 10 minutes to do a full circuit. We've only been on for about five minutes and we need to see the entire park, so your legs will have to cramp for now, I will make it up to you later," Michiru promised.

Haruka grumbled a bit but did not say anything else as the train continued around the park.

* * *

Usagi and Naru managed to make it to Candy Mansion without losing too much time on the walk over. They were let into a large room filled with all sorts of treats. Usagi munched on some of the candy and Naru was explored the room, both girls looking for anything odd. Naru came back over and Usagi asked, "Anything?"

"As far as I can see, it looks pretty normal here. I guess we will just have to wait for the show to start to eliminate this from our list of possible enemy hideouts," Naru said, grabbing her own piece of candy and beginning to nibble on it.

"There are a couple more buildings we should probably check out after this, but I seriously doubt this park's an enemy base," Usagi commented, finishing up her sweet. There was a large cracked pillar in the center of the room and a stage off to their right, but other than that, some miscellaneous decorations, and the tables full of sweets, there wasn’t much to be seen. If it was a base, it was certainly a change from some of the gaudier places the Dark Kingdom had used.

“Yeah, I’m starting to agree with you on that one, but it’s still weird about the disappearing people,” Naru said, finishing off her own sweet and starting on another candy.

“True, but I think it’s just some normal creep, not the enemy.” Usagi glanced at her watch. The show was scheduled to start any minute now, so that would either confirm or deny her thoughts on the park.

Both girls’ attention was drawn to the stage when a white-haired girl wearing a colorful dress stepped out. She gave the crowd a smile and said, “Welcome, everyone. I am the Princess of Dreamland, Muruido. I hope you all enjoy the show.”

Before anyone could respond, she let out a breath, causing a pink cloud to spread through the room. Usagi frowned as she heard several exclamations from other people about some sort of field; the room still looked like it had five minutes ago. But when she saw Naru’s eye glaze over, she knew the Dreamland Princess had put the others under some spell. It was looking like Michiru was on the right track about the Dark Kingdom using Dreamland as a means to steal energy after all.

She reached up towards the locket, intending to transform, when she suddenly felt weak. Crap, it looked like she was a minute too late to act, she thought as she watched her vision go in and out of focus. She knew she had to fight the energy drain, but she was so tired. Her body gave in against her will and the world disappeared.

* * *

Later on, Haruka and Michiru waited at the assigned meeting place. It had been a little over an hour since they had seen the younger girls and they hadn't heard from them. They had been unable to find anything strange over on their edge of the park, so they hoped the others had found something, or at least had a grasp of whether or not this was an enemy base.

"Anything?" Michiru asked, glancing around for the other girls.

Haruka, who had sent a text message to the other girls when they hadn't shown, shook her head, "Nothing yet. Do you think they found the enemy?"

"Seems extremely plausible," Michiru agreed, keeping her eyes trained on the western part of the park.

"Should we try to find them? I mean, it’s going to be a bit difficult since we’re not sure where they went, but we should try to figure out what happened," Haruka said, standing up from the bench where she had been sitting while waiting for the other girls.

"I think the best place to try is the Candy Mansion. It is a bit of a long shot, but there is the pattern concerning the missing people wanting to go there," Michiru recommended, pulling out the map.

"As good of a place to start as any," Haruka agreed as the duo made their way to the western side of the park.

Following the map's instructions, they found a rather large, elaborate building decorated with various candies, including candy canes doors. Haruka tugged at the doors only to find them locked. She turned to Michiru and asked, "Does the map mention when they will be having another show?"

Michiru glanced down at the map, "Not for another hour. Perhaps we should try somewhere else in the meantime?"

"Maybe," Haruka said hesitantly. She felt like there was more to the building than appeared at first glance.

"What are you thinking, Haruka?" Michiru inquired, looking up to her.

"I just feel like we are missing something here. Our only options right now are to force our way in or wait for the show. If this is the enemy base, however, then waiting for the next show that could be disastrous because we could get caught up in whatever is happening," Haruka mused.

"So you are suggesting that we go ahead and transform," Michiru concluded, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. That would make me feel better. Even if it isn't the enemy base, we have more than enough money to pay for any damage we may cause," Haruka decided after weighing the options.

"All right, but we are going to have to find somewhere more discreet to transform," Michiru said, taking her companion’s hand and dragging her off to find somewhere out of the way.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the pair retuned to the Candy Mansion in full sailor gear. The doors were still locked so Haruka powered up her attack, raised her arms, and aimed the familiar yellow ball at the door, saying, “Spiral Buster.”

The ball had the desired effect, ripping a hole into the door that they proceeded to crawl through. The hall they entered was strangely empty for a building being used for a show at a popular amusement park.

Both girls nearly jumped a couple of feet in the air when they heard a new voice say from seemingly nowhere, "And how did you two get in here? The next show is not for another hour."

The duo turned in time to see the girl with the colorful dress. Haruka frowned before deciding the blunt route was the best route to go, "We know you are up to something! Let the people you have captured go!"

"Oh, so you have caught on to our little mission then? I believe that calls for a change in scenery," she said, letting out the same pink breath Usagi had seen earlier that day.

Haruka and Michiru frowned as they watched their scenery fade into a strange field of flowers. Haruka snapped in annoyance, "What did you just do?"

"Activate one of my many tricks," she replied, giving them a wicked grin.

"This is not good. We need to find Sailor Moon," Michiru muttered so only Haruka to hear.

Unfortunately, the youma managed to hear her anyway, "Oh, so I managed to capture your leader? Even better."

Haruka grumbled slightly but there was no use denying the youma's words. They both knew that Usagi was most likely somewhere in the building, but with this illusion it would be nearly impossible to find their leader and her friend. She dropped her volume even lower to respond to Michiru, hoping the youma would not hear her, "Just turn around and walk straight down the hall. I will try to keep her distracted. Her illusion can only carry far; I bet if you get far enough away you will get out."

"Uranus-" Michiru began.

"Just go, Neptune. Without Sailor Moon we are going to have trouble defeating the youma. She is the most experienced of the lot of us," Haruka ordered as she prepared to power up another Spiral Buster.

"If you are sure," Michiru agreed, turning her back on the youma.

"Positive. Now go!" Haruka said, taking a stance that she hoped to

* * *

 

Sure enough, once Michiru got far enough away, she found the illusion fading. Breathing a sigh of relief, she found a door that she hoped would lead to the rest of the people. Pushing it open, she found the room full of various sweets and people, including Usagi and Naru. She ran over to the younger senshi, giving her shoulder a shake. After a few seconds, Usagi groaned and opened her eyes, "Neptune? How did you get here?"

"We forced our way in. Are you up to transforming?" Michiru asked, helping the wobbly-legged girl to her feet.

"Yeah, I can do it," Usagi said after regaining her balance. She got into position before yelling, hoping that no one else was awake, "Moon Prism Power Make Up!"

After a second to transform, Michiru led her back toward the youma, albeit slower than either liked. Usagi, while awake, was definitely feeling the energy drain and was fighting her instinct to sleep. Hoping that Haruka was okay, they made their way back down the hall.

As they neared, they saw that the mysterious senshi of time and space from two weeks ago was back and helping Haruka. She must have heard them coming as she moved to the side to allow them through. Michiru pushed Usagi, who was moving sluggishly, to the front where she sighed, removing the tiara as Haruka continued to distract the youma, and aimed at the creature while saying, "Moon Tiara Action!"

Thankfully, in spite of her tiredness, the youma had been dealt enough damage and crumbled to dust from her attack. Usagi breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her energy return to her with the defeat of the enemy.

She ignored the older girls as they thanked Sailor Pluto for the assistance, only giving the oldest senshi a tentative smile. After all, this was only her second time encountering the time senshi and Pluto seemed to prefer to stand on her own. She turned toward Uranus and Neptune and said, "Come on, let’s grab Naru and get out of here. I've seen enough of this park for one day."

Haruka and Michiru inclined their heads in agreement. When Usagi glanced behind them a moment later, Pluto had already disappeared. Wondering how the senshi kept doing that, she decided to ask Luna later as she dropped her transformation and went to find her friend.

_Apparently the enemy is moving onto bigger and more noticeable venues. I’m not sure if that means they are more desperate or they have stopped caring about attracting unwanted attention. Oh well, it will make finding them easier._

_All of the missing people are now accounted for, though their memories are now clogged from the whole incident. Luna mentioned this is pretty normal for this kind of Dark Kingdom attack._

_Speaking of Luna, she has been antsy since we first mentioned the appearance of Pluto but it increased today when we told her she had reappeared in Dreamland. I wonder what she remembers about the senshi, if anything at all, and why she doesn’t want to talk about the other senshi._

_Oh well, I guess my answers will come in time._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And that wraps up chapter 7 stay tuned on Friday for chapter 8. Here's the preview:  
> “I’m still worried about what might happen if we show up and he does not,” Usagi admitted that evening while chewing on her pencil. She was attempting to get some of her schoolwork done but her mind was not really focusing on it well. Too many things were going on tonight to full concentrate on her homework.
> 
> “I would be surprised if he does not show up, Usagi. And you are underestimating his own abilities if you think he will not be able to sneak around the guards. He has all sorts of powerful magic,” Luna said sounding exasperated. It felt like the millionth time that she had said that this evening. Ever since she had told Usagi that she refused to hand over the items that may be capable of healing Jadeite the girl had grown increasingly annoying . Not that it was going to change Luna's mind.
> 
> "She does have a point though," Michiru said after a second. Seeing the look she got from Luna she continued, "In this day and age showing up at the airport during a terrorist threat could be seen as admitting guilt. We are going to have to be very careful when we go to Haneda Airport."
> 
> "I am sure everything will be okay," Luna said her tone becoming more annoyed by the second.
> 
> "Yeah well if we get thrown in jail I am blaming you Luna," Usagi retorted finally getting up from the table. She simply could not do her homework tonight. She was too nervous about the trip out to Haneda Airport.
> 
> "I seriously doubt that is going to happen," Luna called out to Usagi's retreating back. Turning to the other girls she said, "We should probably be getting ready to head out the door. As soon as Usagi returns you three should probably go ahead and transform."
> 
> See you Friday!


	8. The Last Stand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey guys the chapter is actually on time today! I hope to get chapter 9 to you ontime but no guarantee with the time change (going to England) and travel. So if its a day late or early than you know why.  
> My beta asked me to tack this on: I’m so very sorry for the delays this week. Family holiday stuff took over my weekend and now I’m fighting off (and losing to) a nasty bug. I hope you enjoy. Have a Blessed Yule (and lovely “end of the world”)! ~JM  
> Thanks to Guess, James Birdsong, aerethel, LoveInTheBattleField, Light-Sakura (for both reviews), and PuffGirl1952 for the reviews. To Seithr-Kairy for the favorite. To aerethel for the story alert. To the three guests over on AO3 for their kudos. And of course to all of my unnamed readers for reading the story.
> 
> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!   
> And of course a thank you to all of the unknown readers of my story.
> 
> Third; as usual I don't own Sailor Moon, they belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi.
> 
> So at long last please enjoy chapter 8!

Chapter 8

The Last Stand

 

_Dear Shingo,_

_I guess I was right about the enemy starting to get desperate. Jadeite made a surprising move this evening..._

It had been a week since the fiasco at Dreamland. The park was receiving some backlash from the whole thing, but Usagi doubted it would hinder them in the long run.  The girls kept an eye out for any unusual news, but nothing out of the ordinary popped up. In the meantime, they enjoyed the quiet.

One evening, Usagi was spending the night at Naru’s house for a late night study session. They only had a few weeks left in the school year. Even if it would take a miracle for her to make it to the next year, she had to at least try, right? If she was going down in flames this year, she was going down fighting.

Luna brought the girls out of their study session by calling, “Usagi, come here, quick!”

Usagi groaned but went over to the windowsill where Luna sat. She was about to ask what was wrong when she saw the blond haired guy from the idol contest – she remembered Luna calling him Jadeite – in the sky. She frowned. Well, this was different and very blatant. The Dark Kingdom was becoming less subtle at every turn.  Her frown deepened when he spoke, “Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus, and Sailor Neptune, you have messed with my plans for the last time. I challenge you to a fight tomorrow night at 1 A.M.  at Haneda airport. If you do not show up, the consequences will not be pretty for the city of Tokyo, so I highly recommend you make your presence known tomorrow.”

He faded with a swirl of purple and the skyline of Tokyo returned to the normal. Usagi quickly turned to her friend and said, “Get Skype up, I want to see if Haruka and Michiru are awake. We need to talk right now.”

“All ready on it,” Naru said, having pulled out her laptop as soon as Jadeite had disappeared from the sky. While they waited for the laptop to turn on, she asked the question on all of their minds, “Luna, what do you think he meant by consequences?”

Luna’s tail twitched from side to side as she thought before answering, “There are multiple things that he could have meant. Most likely, I believe he meant an attempt to burn down the city. It would be the easiest and quickest thing for the Dark Kingdom to do with their current amount of manpower.”

Naru typed in her Skype username as Usagi spoke, “Well, they are going to have a hard time with that. This isn’t like in the 1940s when Tokyo was made of mostly wood. Plus, in this day and age he probably attracted more attention from the authorities than he meant to. You know, if we left him to his own devices, the police might end up catching him.”

“Usagi-” Luna began in exasperation.

“I know, I know. We won’t leave it to the Japanese authorities. I’m just saying that it is probable they would catch him and he’d find himself in a whole boatload of trouble,” Usagi interrupted, waving her hand in reassurance.

“All right, they’re online. Should we give them a call?” Naru asked over her shoulder, stopping any impending argument between the two.

“That would be best,” Luna said as they moved so they could be in the camera’s view as it dialed Haruka and Michiru.

A few rings later, the call connected, followed by some scrambling as they adjusted the camera before the older girls came into focus. Both girls appeared to be partly undressed but not really flustered. Michiru commented first, “So I am assuming this is about the man calling us out in the sky for a battle.”

“Yes,” Luna said, nodding her head then continuing, “I am a bit surprised by his blatancy, but he is demanding a battle and I believe we need to accept. We do not want to see whatever consequences he is threatening. The Dark Kingdom is a force to be reckoned with. If we can take one of their minions out of the equation, it is for the best.”

“Okay, then where are we going to meet up?” Haruka asked.

“Maybe we should meet at my apartment for once. I’ll send you the address. My parents know I’m a sailor senshi so we don’t have to worry about sneaking out. We’ll just have to worry about catching the train to Haneda airport,” Usagi suggested after a few moments of silence. She still thought the police might get Jadeite first, but Luna would rip her a new one if they did not at least show up.

“That sounds like as good of a plan as any,” Michiru admitted after both girls thought it over. “See you then?”

“See you then,” Luna confirmed for Usagi before closing the call. As Naru turned to put her laptop away, Luna brought up the one subject she and Usagi had been dancing around since their argument a few weeks back, “Usagi, you are nowhere near the level you need to be to wield the power necessary to heal him. Giving you that weapon now would disastrous. Whatever happens tomorrow will happen and you will have to live with it. Understood?

Usagi flinched. She hated the thought of not being able to save another human being again, but if Luna would not give her the tools to save him, what could she do? She sighed reluctantly nodding and saying, “Understood.”

“Good. Now, we need to get you two to bed. Usagi, you have a late night tomorrow so you need as much sleep as you can get. Lights out, girls,” Luna said, curling up on the pillow Naru had bought for her.

The girls exchanged looks; they should be studying more, but Luna had a point. Usagi sighed, stuffing her work back into her shoulder bag. Hopefully Naru could come over tomorrow night to study more before she and the others left for Haneda. As she settled into her sleeping bag, she planned out how she could probably get a few hours of studying in before the fight if they timed everything right. Naru reached over and turned off her light, leaving Usagi to attempt to fall asleep in spite of all her worries.

* * *

The next evening, the girls gathered at Usagi’s apartment to get ready to go to the airport. There had been a lot of news reports and rumors circulating after Jadeite’s appearance in the sky last night. Everyone was being warned to stay away from the airport and the possible terrorist threat. There was supposed to be a rather large police task force set to try and take Jadeite down if he showed up. Luna, however, was not convinced that they would be able to catch him and was insisting the group make the trip to Haneda, only increasing Usagi’s hesitation.

“I’m still worried about what might happen if we show up and he doesn’t,” Usagi admitted, chewing on her pencil. She was attempting to get some of her schoolwork done, but she couldn’t really focus on it. Too many things were going on tonight to fully concentrate on her homework.

“I would be surprised if he does not show up, Usagi. You are underestimating his abilities if you think he will not be able to sneak around the guards. He has all sorts of powerful magic,” Luna said, exasperated. It felt like the millionth time that she had said that this evening. Ever since she had told Usagi that she refused to hand over the item that may be capable of healing Jadeite, the girl had grown increasingly annoying – not that it was going to change Luna's mind.

"She does have a point, though," Michiru said. Seeing the look she got from Luna, she continued, "In this day and age, showing up at the airport during a terrorist threat could be seen as admitting guilt. We are going to have to be very careful when we go to Haneda Airport."

"I am sure everything will be okay," Luna said, more annoyed by the second.

"Yeah, well, if we get thrown in jail, I’m blaming you, Luna," Usagi retorted, finally getting up from the table. She simply could not do her homework tonight, too nervous about the trip out to Haneda Airport.

"I seriously doubt that is going to happen," Luna called out to Usagi's retreating back. Turning to the other girls she said, "We should probably get ready to head out the door. As soon as Usagi returns, you three should go ahead and transform."

"Sounds like a plan," Haruka agreed. Though part of her wondered how much of a grasp Luna had on modern day events, she knew the cat would never leave them alone until they left for Haneda. It looked like they were stuck going to fight Jadeite.

Usagi returned a few minutes later looking a bit nervous. Luna sighed before saying, "All right, you three go ahead and transform. We should arrive at Haneda fully transformed and ready for a fight. We do not know what possible traps that Jadeite may have waiting for us."

Usagi gulped nervously but was the first to get into position and say, "Moon Prism Power Make Up!"

Haruka and Michiru quickly followed suit and, a few minutes later, they all stood in their Sailor Senshi uniforms. Usagi's mom watched the girls transform for the first time. As the girls prepared to head out, she gave her daughter a hug and said, "Take care, okay? And try not to get into trouble with the police."

"I’ll try my best, Mom," Usagi assured.

"I know you will."

"See you in a few hours," Usagi said, giving her Mom a bright smile before slipping out the apartment door behind the others and heading for the train station.

* * *

An hour or so later, the foursome finally arrived at the Haneda airport. It had been a creepy trip involving train doors that opened and started on their own – Luna was convinced that Jadeite's magic had something to do with that since Usagi seriously doubted anyone would run a train this late if they knew what was supposed to happen at Haneda airport – and a strangely empty airport.

"Something is not right here. Where are all of the security guards that are supposed to be preventing Jadeite's arrival?" she heard Michiru ask Haruka.

“Luna, you’re good at sensing Dark Kingdom minions, are you getting anything from him?" Usagi asked the cat curiously.

Luna sniffed the air before stiffening and replying, "He is definitely here somewhere. I can feel the aura of the Dark Kingdom's minions; this place reeks of it more so than most places. He has to be around here somewhere, we just have to figure out where."

"Easier said than done," Usagi heard one of the older girls mutter under her breath.

She turned to the cat and asked, "Is there any particular area where the stench seems to be coming from? I mean, if we could find a trail, it would be easier than wandering around all of Haneda airport. This is no Narita as far as size goes, but that doesn’t mean it is small by any stretch of the imagination."

"Give me a minute and let me see if I can find something," Luna replied as they made their way down a set of stairs to one of the airport’s many open spaces.

"I’m just wondering where he could be hiding. I mean, there are a lot of places here, but he implied that he wanted to fight us . . . so why would he be hiding?" Usagi muttered under her breath. It just did not make any sense.

They began to round a corner only to duck back behind the wall when they finally found a group of policemen. Usagi was surprised by Luna's reaction; she had frozen and her fur was standing on end. After a second of silence, Usagi asked quietly, "Um, Luna, what is going on?"

"I just got hit by a huge wave of the Dark Kingdom's aura. He can't be too far from here, we just need to find him," Luna said, slowly beginning to relax.

Usagi poked her head around the corner, trying to get a better look at the area. She frowned; there was no sign of Jadeite, only the policemen. Then it hit her, if Jadeite could possess other humans, why couldn't he possess policemen? It would surely be troublesome, but it would explain Luna's reaction to them. She ducked back behind the partition and asked the cat, "Um, could Jadeite have possessed the policemen here?"

Luna frowned before sighing in realization, "Yes, he could, and I would not be surprised if he has done so."

"So we are going to have to destroy him in order to get the policemen free of his influence," Haruka said after mentally going over what she had heard about possessed people. She and Michiru didn’t have much experience with possessed people yet, so they were going off the stories of Usagi's first few battles.

"Most likely, yes," Luna admitted, somewhat glad to have finally found a way to make sure Usagi would not hesitate against Jadeite.

"Then how do we find him?" Usagi asked, finally resigning herself to having to fight Jadeite. She had been holding out hope that there may be a way to take him out without getting involved. But, if the policemen were possessed by him, they had little choice in the matter.

"Perhaps we can see if the policemen will lead us to him," Michiru suggested.

"Well, that might work," Luna agreed.

"It might end with us being chased instead of led somewhere," Usagi muttered, recalling her previous encounters with possessed people. However, she had to admit Michiru's plan seemed like the best course of action. It was certainly better than wandering around Haneda Airport all night until they figured out Jadeite’s location.

"So, are we in agreement?" Luna asked, ignoring Usagi's comment.

The three girls exchanged glances before nodding. Usagi took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the partition, the older girls were following just a couple of steps behind her while Luna was directly behind her. As soon as she came into view, she attracted the attention of all the policemen. She gulped nervously before saying, "Um, excuse me. I’m looking for Jadeite; maybe one of you could point me in the direction-"

Usagi was cut off as one of the policemen lunged at her. She managed to dodge his bat before straightening and running in the opposite direction. At the moment, she couldn’t care less about possible property damage; she needed to get away from the fully-possessed policemen. She heard a simultaneous yell of "Spiral Buster!" and "Splash Edge!" meaning Haruka and Michiru had managed to power up their attacks. Usagi turned around to see the policeman that had been giving chase were knocked down. She reached up for her tiara, remembering Luna's suggestion for possessed people when they could not track down the youma controlling them, and yelled, "Moon Tiara Stardust!"

She watched her tiara circle around the policemen and breathed a sigh of relief as their skin color returned to normal. It looked like it had done the trick. Haruka and Michiru returned to her side, eyeing the policemen warily, before turning to Luna. Michiru asked, "Did that return them to normal?"

"Yes, it appears so. Unfortunately, this takes away our only lead to Jadeite’s location," Luna answered.

"Maybe not," Michiru said after a moment of silence. At the confused looks she received from Usagi and Luna, she continued, "Well, they were chasing us in a certain direction, weren’t they? Perhaps, if we keep heading this way, we will find Jadeite."

"That is true," Luna admitted after pondering the thought. "And we do not have any other ideas, I assume, so let’s continue on."

Usagi sighed, wondering if the other attack could possibly work on Jadeite. But then again, Luna had suggested that the level of brainwashing, if any, on the generals was much more difficult than what the youmas used on their minions. She could at least try to heal him with the Stardust attack, she figured.

* * *

They made their way outside with no sign of Jadeite. Usagi was starting to wonder if he had gotten captured before they arrived when she heard a sneering voice behind them say, "So you finally appear, Sailor Senshi.".

Sure enough, upon turning around and looking up, she saw the blond haired man. He stood atop of one of the airport signs, glaring down at them.

Haruka was the first one to address him, "So you are the one referred to as Jadeite, huh?"

"Nice to see my reputation precedes me," he said smugly.

"Only because we heard a bit about him from Usagi and Luna," Usagi could hear Haruka mutter to Michiru.

"What do you want, Jadeite?" Luna inquired, choosing to ignore the prior conversation.

"Why, you out of the picture, of course," he smirked.

"Right, like that would happen. I am Sailor Moon, the pretty suited champion of love and justice. Your attempted reign of terror over the city of Tokyo ends tonight, Jadeite," Usagi said, going through the motions of the speech that was becoming familiar with each and every battle.

“We will see about that. Prepare to face the wrath of modern technology,” Jadeite said, making a wild gesture with his hands.

"Uh, Luna, what does he mean by that?" Usagi asked as she watched Jadeite closely.

"I'm not sure-" Luna started only to be interrupted by a loud roar.

The group looked to their left and saw an airplane moving in their direction, picking up speed. Haruka spoke the entire group's thoughts, "Oh, shit."

"This is not good! Run!" Usagi said, turning on her heel and running to try to get out of the airplane's path.

The rest followed suit as they tried to figure out how what to do; they were at a distinct disadvantage against an airplane. Usagi turned to Luna, yelling in frustration, “You never mentioned that he could control airplanes!”

“I never mentioned it because I didn’t know he had this kind of ability,” Luna yelled back.

“What are we going to do? We can’t outrun him forever! We’ll have to turn and fight him eventually,” Haruka threw in her two cents.

“Can you afford to pay for a full sized jet airplane? Because I can’t,” Usagi called back.

“We don’t need to! We just need to stop long enough to get in an attack. If we can distract him long enough, the plane should stop,” Michiru yelled, catching on to Haruka’s plan.

“That sounds great in theory but the further we get away from him, the harder it’s going to be to aim an attack at him,” Usagi yelled back.

Before one of the older girls could make another suggestion, the roar came to an abrupt halt. Looking back, the older girls could now see that Jadeite had been distracted by . . . a rose? Haruka let out an amused snort while Usagi looked around for the familiar face she hadn’t seen in a while. Sure enough, there he was on one of the adjoining towers. By the look of it, he was giving Jadeite some sort of lecture, but her ears had not quite recovered from the roaring of the airplane engine. She smiled and said, more to herself, "Thanks again, Tuxedo Kamen."

"You know him?" Michiru asked, raising an eyebrow.

Usagi sweat dropped. She had forgotten that the others had not met him yet, their only outside help having come from Sailor Pluto. She replied, "Yeah, he helped me out a few times before. He sometimes acted as a distraction when I needed to get an attack in before you two woke."

"Well, let’s use the opening he gave us. Power up," Luna suggested.

"Got it," Haruka said, raising her arms up and beginning to power up her attack. Michiru followed suit as Usagi removed her own tiara. Usagi was the first one to go, letting loose her tiara, "Moon Tiara Magic!"

Michiru and Haruka, who had perfected syncing their attacks, went together, "Spiral Buster!" and "Splash Edge!"

The tiara seemed to absorb the energy of the attack, glowing with more power than Usagi had ever seen before. Jadeite, still distracted by Tuxedo Kamen, was knocked over the side. He managed to catch his balance by flying, but the attack had done some damage, much to Usagi's relief. Before he could fully recover, a third lilac-colored ball slammed into him, effectively knocking him to the ground.

"Sailor Moon, again! If we get him now, we will be rid of him," Luna commanded.

Usagi, however, found herself frozen on the spot, unable to move. Luna's tone grew exasperated as she spoke again, "We went over this: he is the enemy. You do not have the capability of healing him. He must be eliminated."

Usagi did not respond, instead starting to shake lightly. Michiru noticed the younger girl's sudden change in behavior and gave her shoulder a light shake, "Sailor Moon?"

The lack of response caused her to frown. The senshi of Pluto stepped closer only to be blocked by Haruka. The other senshi had been helpful, yes, but she had not been the most forthcoming with details. The senshi sighed before speaking, "I have some medical degrees. I think she may be caught in a memory, I just want to check."

Haruka frowned but Michiru reasoned, "Let her over. We don't know anything about medical problems. If something is happening, she is our best shot."

Haruka hesitated for another second before stepping out of Pluto's way. The other senshi said a simple thank you before going over to Usagi. She tilted her head, checking a few things, before speaking again, "I think she may be caught in a flashback of some nature. The best thing to do for now is to let her ride it out. Trying to bring her out of it could be disastrous."

"Great, so what do we do with blondie? We can't just leave him here," Haruka asked, partly annoyed, partly exasperated, and partly worried.

"If we combine our attacks, we might be able to do what Sailor Moon normally does and take out the man, but it will kill him," Pluto replied.

"That won't make her happy." Michiru pointed out.

"But what choice do we have?" Haruka commented.

"True," Michiru said, beginning to draw on her own power.

"Then it is settled," Pluto said, also beginning to power up her own attack.

"Splash Edge!-Spiral Buster!-Dimension Dance!" the three voices chorused as one as the attacks collided and knocked Jadeite back several feet.

"Did that do the trick?" Haruka asked as Pluto moved over to check on him.

"It appears so," Pluto said after a moment. She turned back to the girls and said, "You three probably should get out of here before you get caught by the police."

"Will do, and thanks for the help," Haruka said, getting Usagi onto her back with some help from Michiru.  Apparently Tuxedo Kamen had vanished while they were otherwise occupied.

Pluto gave them a polite nod before turning to go her own way. The other three, plus Luna, did not waste time before making their way back to where the trains came in and out, hoping they would just be able to get one to go back home.

_I finally came out of the flashback on the train ride home. The girls wanted to know what caused it_ _, but I’m still not ready to talk about everything that went down two years ago. I kept quiet instead. They also wouldn’t say what happened to Jadeite, but I would be a fool not to realize what most likely happened while I was caught in the flashback._

_I think I may be running Luna's fuse short with my amount of problems_ _, but what can I do?_

_Speaking of Luna_ _, she says it’s only a matter of time before another general of the Dark Kingdom makes his presence known. I hope, when it comes time to have a final face off with him, Luna will finally give me the healing magic to save him._

_Because I can't guarantee that I won't get caught in another flashback of those hard times_ _unless I know I can heal him instead._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And that wraps up chapter 8 stay tuned on Monday hopefully for chapter 9. Here's the preview:  
> The early afternoon saw the girls gathered in their uniforms outside of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Usagi had begun pulling on her skirt in nervousness again. Luna had shifted into her human form and the only recognizable mark on her was the yellow crescent moon that glowed on her forehead similar to the one she bore as a cat and her long dark purplish/blue hair. She was dressed in a yellow dress covered with a coat that Usagi’s Mom had lent her.
> 
> It was no surprise to see large amounts of camera crews gathered around the entrance of the government building. And as soon as they came into view they attracted the attention of every news reporter. Who all began squabbling over each other, trying to speak the loudest and get their question answered first. Usagi finally managed to get her voice heard over all of them saying, “Look we have a meeting to keep. We will be more than happy to answer your questions after the meeting. Okay?”
> 
> There was some grumbling from a few reporters but they did back off finally at that point. Usagi let out a sigh of relief while Luna gave her a smile. Luna led the group into the lobby. The girls had to remove their tiaras to get through the metal detectors but other than that they got into the building without many problems. A man that identified himself as Dai Fumio and working for the governor’s office said he would lead them to the meeting place. He quickly led them to one of the elevators and away from the prying eyes of tourists and visitors. They hopped into one of the building’s elevators and rode up to one of the many building’s floors. Usagi was keeping an eye on everything as they were led into a room and told that the current governor, Naoki Inose would be meeting them shortly. Usagi kept shifting attempting to find a comfortable position as Haruka and Michiru lightly conversed about what the governor may want to talk to them about. Luna seemed to be going over some notes concerning the government. All of which came to a grinding halt when the door opened. 
> 
> Michiru was first to her feet, followed quickly by the others, as Inose stepped into the room. He gave them a smile as he stepped into the room saying, “Go ahead and be seated. You three are not in trouble, and neither is your friend, though I am not familiar with her. I do not remember her being in this morning’s news and also you seem to be missing a few members of your group from last night?”
> 
> See you Monday!


	9. A New Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Merry Christmas and a happy holidays! 
> 
> First off I am going to lead off with some term definations. Juliemarie12 pointed out that some people might not know what some of the terms I use below are. Particular the Diet. When I say Diet I don't mean dieting. I mean Diet as in the Japanese council. Closest comparison I can come to is the equivalent in American terms is I believe either are House of Representatives or the Senate or in the UK the parliment. Not sure about other countries but hopefully that will give you a guys a basic idea of what I am talking about. They aren't much in the story itself only referenced a couple of times. 
> 
> Another important note, I use the word governor for one of the characters below. I don't mean like state governor. In this case the closest equivalent I believe is mayor but for Tokyo and Yokohama the person is referred to a governor. 
> 
> I am going to lead off with some news. The story will be going on temporary hiatus. Not because I am behind schedule (chapter 10 is with beta currently) but just to give me and juliemarie12 a bit of break for sanity reasons. And to let her get over her infections without the time constraints of which I normally try to have. I am currently vacationing in London so writing time is questionable and I need to wrap up chapter 11 before I post chapter 10 or else I won't be happy. So this should get me some time to at least get 11 and 12 done. Plus I have my Secret Santa present (which depending on whether or not I can drag my muses out of hiding may or may not get posted here) to work on. The story will resume like normal on January 4 with chapter 10. So you guys will just have to wait a little longer than normal.
> 
> First off a belated happy birthday to regular reviewer, Puffgirl1952. Hope you had a wonderful birthday and sorry we couldn't get the chapter to you on Sunday. We tried but as I mentioned juliemarie12 is sick and couldn't get me the chapter until today.
> 
> A thank you to Lucyole (thanks for the cookies), LoveIntheBattleField, Light-Sakura, and of course Puffgirl1952 for the reviews. To October Autumn for the follow. And to the rest of my unknown readers. 
> 
> Note from the beta: I am so very sorry for the delay in this update. The bug I had developed into both ear and sinus infections, leaving me basically worthless over the weekend until I got some antibiotics. To the lovely reader whose birthday was Sunday, Happy Belated Birthday! We were planning on getting it up then before this mess hit, but alas. Merry Christmas, everyone! ~JM
> 
> As always I don't own Sailor Moon, these characters belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi and I am simply burrowing them for my story purpose.
> 
> Enjoy Chapter 9 and I will see you in a week and a half.

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today things took a turn for the weird again. When I signed up to become a sailor senshi – though it really wasn_ _’t much of a sign up_ – _I never expected to gain public respect._ _Apparently more people were and are going to witness our battles against the Dark Kingdom than we realized..._

After the battle with Jadeite, the girls managed to make it back home without running into any trouble. The next morning while preparing to go to school, Usagi was munching on some cereal when her phone rang. Picking it up, she saw it was Naru calling and she answered, “Hey, Naru! What’s up?”

“Usagi, have you turned on the news this morning?” came Naru’s voice.

“No, why? Is something wrong?” Usagi asked, putting her spoon down in favor of scrounging around for the television remote.

“No. Well, not exactly. I think you need to see what they’re talking about,” Naru said.

Usagi finally located the remote for the small kitchen television and hit the power button, scrolling past the morning cartoons to the local news station. She saw the news anchor standing on the runway where she and the others had fought just a few hours before, “–four  girls dressed in sailor uniforms and a man dressed in a tuxedo successfully took down the terrorist that we now know was named Jadeite, according to footage from security cameras. Jadeite has been officially declared dead by the police.

“The mystery girls are being met with mixed reactions. Many members of the Dietare declaring them heroes, the police are remaining silent on their stance, and the general public seems uncertain if they a hoax. However, the governor wishes to meet these girls in private and is asking they contact the governor’s office. If anyone has any additional information about how to contact these girls, or any information about them in general, please call the number listed below.”

As the new channel cut away from the report Usagi, switched the television off and picked up her cell phone back up, having set it down at some point during the news report. She took a deep breath before speaking into it, “Send Luna over and call the others. I’m going to see if I can call in sick. We need to sort this out sooner rather than later.”

“Will do,” Naru said before hanging up.

“Mom!” Usagi called down the hallway.

“What is it, Usagi?” came her mother’s voice.

“I need you to come here for a second. There’s something you need to see on the television,” Usagi requested.

“One second,” her mom called back. Usagi switched the television back on and turned to one of the other local news station while she waited. Thankfully, the other news station was circulating the same information as the first. It wasn’t long before her Mom came in. She watched the report in its entirety before asking, “Should I call you in sick?”

“That would be best. We need to sort out this mess as soon as possible. The others are probably going to arrive in the next half hour or so,” Usagi said.

“Okay, I’ll make the call,” her mom said, stepping out to get her own cell phone. Usagi grabbed the remote and turned the television back off. It was going to be a long morning.

* * *

An hour later, the group gathered again at Usagi's apartment. Luna was pacing back and forth nervously. Neither she nor Central had thought this kind of problem would ever come up.

Haruka was the first to speak up, asking the question on everyone's mind, "So, do we answer the call and go meet the governor?"

Luna continued to pace in thought before responding, "I am not sure. It probably would not hurt to establish good connections with the police and government for the future."

"So we should go," Usagi said, her tone a bit nervous. She hadn’t been around politicians in the big city before. Sure, she had known a few from friends’ parents back where she used to live, but here in Tokyo? Never.

"I would rather have a chance to consult with Central and my fellow guardian but I doubt I will get to do so before the arranged meeting time. I will have to come, of course, to act as an adviser,” Luna said.

“I’m not so sure they will let you in, Luna,” Usagi said after a pause.

“Don’t worry, I have a trick to get in. I will be there, but not as a cat,” Luna replied.

“Do you have some more of that weird magical device stuff?” Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Not quite,” Luna said after a moment of hesitation.

“What do you mean by ‘not quite?’ How are you going to ‘be there’ if you are not a cat and don’t give us some weird device?” Usagi prodded.

Luna’s tail twitched for a second before she sighed. She had been hoping to wait to reveal this later but they were not going to let this go if she went by Usagi’s questions and the looks she saw Haruka and Michiru exchanging. After a minute or so of silence she spoke, “I have the ability to temporarily become human.”

“Wait, what?” Usagi voiced the entire group’s shock.

Luna sighed before continuing her explanation, “My fellow guardian and I originally hailed from a far away planet named Mau. Its inhabitants have the ability to shape shift to a certain extent, usually from a human-shaped form to some other kind of creature. I have a couple of other forms that I can take besides that of a cat or human, but I much prefer being a cat, as does the other guardian. It allows us to blend in without drawing a large amount of attention.”

“If you could do this all along, why not accompany us to Dreamland?” Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

“I wanted to see how you three could do on a mission without my assistance. It seemed like a good starting point since we weren’t one-hundred percent sure if Dreamland was being used as a base,” Luna said.

“But you are going to go as a human this afternoon?” Usagi asked after a few moments of silence.

“Yes, I plan to do so,” Luna said, nodding and allowing some silence to pass before speaking again, “In the meantime, I want to go over a few things about how to speak to the governor when we go tonight.”

* * *

In the early afternoon, the girls gathered in their uniforms outside of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Usagi was pulling on her skirt nervously again. Luna had shifted into her human form, the only recognizable attributes being her yellow crescent moon glowing on her forehead and her long dark purple-blue hair. She was dressed in a yellow dress and covered with a coat that Usagi’s mom had lent her.

It was no surprise to see numerous camera crews gathered around the entrance to the government building. As soon as they came into view, they attracted the attention of all the news reporters, who began squabbling over each other, trying to speak the loudest and get their question answered first. Usagi finally managed to get her voice heard over all of them to say, “Look, we have a meeting to keep. We will be more than happy to answer your questions after the meeting, okay?”

There was some grumbling from a few reporters but they backed off at that point. Usagi let out a sigh of relief and Luna gave her a smile before leading the group into the lobby. The girls had to remove their tiaras to get through the metal detectors, but other than that they got into the building without any problems. A man who introduced himself as Dai Fumio, a worker for the governor’s office, said he would lead them to the meeting room. He quickly led them to one of the elevators, away from the prying eyes of tourists and visitors. They hopped into one of the building’s elevators and rode up to one of the building’s many floors.

Usagi kept an eye on everything as they were led into a room and told that the current governor Naoki Inose would meet with them shortly. Usagi kept shifting, attempting to find a comfortable position, as Haruka and Michiru lightly conversed and Luna went over some notes concerning the government. Everything came to a grinding halt when the door opened.

Michiru was first to her feet, followed quickly by the others, as Inose stepped into the room. He gave them a smile as said, “Go ahead and be seated. You three are not in trouble and neither is your friend, though I am not familiar with her. Also, you seem to be missing a few members of your group from last night?”

The girls took a seat, sighing in relief as Luna took the chance to introduce herself, “My name is Luna, Inose-sama. I act as an adviser to the sailor senshi. I actually was with the girls during the fight last night and, originally, I was the one charged with the task of awakening the girls to fight the Dark Kingdom. As for the other members who are missing, they come and go on their own accord. We have yet to meet them outside of battle. If I ever get a chance to formally introduce them to you, I will do so.”

“Well, then it is a pleasure to meet you, Luna-san,” he said respectfully before turning to the girls, “As well as meet the girls responsible for taking down the terrorist known as Jadeite. Though, I am guessing by your phrasing, Luna, that he was only one piece of a larger puzzle.”

“I believe the phrase is, ‘he is only the tip of the iceberg.’ The Dark Kingdom that he was part of is a race whose sole objective is to take over planet Earth; possibly more, if they can pull it off,” Luna explained. This was treading into dangerous territory, but if they were going to form a solid relationship with the Japanese government, the girls had said that at least one person would need to be trusted with the entire truth about the Dark Kingdom’s origins.

“Race? Are you saying they are not human?” Inose said, frowning.

“Mostly, no. Three of their generals are human but, for the most part, the rest are part of an ancient alien race from another system far from ours. They used to have four humans, but with the death of Jadeite their numbers dropped. Most of the race is able to take on a very convincing human-like impression, often impersonating other humans as part of their schemes to steal energy,” Luna explained.

“Then just how long have they been living on Earth?” he said with a frown.

“They first invaded Earth about two millennia ago, by your time keeping system. However, the late Queen Serenity was able to seal them away with the cost of her life. The seal has only begun to weaken recently, causing us to move to appoint new Sailor Senshi for the first time since the Dark Kingdom fell over two thousand years ago,” Luna patiently explained to him.

“So this is not the first time the Sailor Senshi have served as warriors?” he asked out of curiosity.

“No. Back in the days of the Silver Millennium, the Sailor Senshi acted as both peacekeepers and a force to keep unwanted visitors from destroying their home. Unfortunately, that did not always work, seeing as the Dark Kingdom was able to get in and destroy us,” Luna replied after a moment of hesitation. She would rather not bring up the long-forgotten civilization, but she would not leave something out and have it come back to bite her later on.

“And, let me get this straight, we are not alone?” he asked after a pause.

“To be quite blunt, governor-san, you were never alone. What has been forgotten by the sands of time is the fact that there once was life on every planet in this solar system. I know you currently believe that humans evolved from a primitive organism, but that was never true. Humans came to this solar system seeking a new home after their own homes were destroyed by a supernova. We scattered among the planets, including Earth,” Luna said, earning shocked looks from all the room’s inhabitants.

“And you know this for certain, how?” he asked, extremely skeptical.

“Because I never died. I originally lived in the Silver Millennium. When the Moon Kingdom fell all those years ago, Queen Serenity sent another fellow guardian and me into a deep sleep, only to be awakened if the Dark Kingdom’s seal began to weaken. When it began to fall apart a few months back, we guardians awoke and began the hunt for a new group of Sailor Senshi to fight the Dark Kingdom,” Luna explained. After a few minutes of silence and his expression remaining skeptical, she offered, “I have a way to show you some of my memories of the Moon Kingdom, if you wish.”

“That would be best. I need to see proof before I believe what initially sounds like a wild goose chase of a story,” he said.

“Understood,” Luna said, reaching up to his forehead and touching it. She focused, creating the link, and began showing him several select memories of the Moon Kingdom.

While she was at it, the other girls spoke quietly. Haruka questioned, “If she remembers the Moon Kingdom so clearly, why hasn’t she shown us any of her memories?”

“Did she ever show you any memories, Sailor Moon?” Michiru asked, turning to the younger girl. According to what they had heard from Luna and Naru, it had taken some convincing to get Usagi to take up the fight against the youmas; the teenager had wanted nothing more than a normal life when she had become Sailor Moon.

“No. She talked about the Moon Kingdom a bit when she first explained the Dark Kingdom but she never went into this kind of detail or showed me any of her memories,” Usagi said, scanning her own memories of the times she had heard Luna talk about the kingdoms.

They didn’t get a chance to say much else as Luna pulled away from the governor. She sat back in the only empty seat and let the man sort through the foreign memories. After a few minutes, he commented, “We are in for quite a bit of a fight, aren’t we, Luna-san.”

“You are correct in that assumption, Inose-sama,” Luna said, nodding.

“All right, so here is the deal. First, we need to make some sort of announcement to the public to warn them of the possible danger posed by the enemy. We will create a hot line to call in case of possible suspected attacks and teach what to look for when it comes to youma attacks.

“As for you three, you will officially report to the public safety commission, along with any new additions to the team that come along. They will be the ones that set your payroll and such. However, I want all reports involving attacks dropped off in my office by Luna herself and handed directly to me. In the wrong hands this information could cause a mass panic."

“Luna, I would like your permission to inform the Emperor and the Prime Minister of the situation. I only have so much power and keeping them in the loop would be best. Even so, I do not think now is the time to tell them. I will try to set up an appointment in the next couple of weeks and I want all of you in attendance. If I try to tell them about it on my own, with no firm proof, I will be dismissed as a man who has spent too much time in office and has gone crazy from the pressure. Is there a phone number I can use to reach any of you?” he said after taking a few minutes to think.

Usagi considered the situation before scribbling her phone number and handing it over as she instructed, “Call this number. The people who live there know how to get in direct contact with us and will pass on any messages.”

“Understood. If that is all, I dismiss you for now. Fumio-san will make sure you get out of the building without getting lost,” he said, standing. The others followed suit.

“Thank you, Inose-sama,” Luna said, speaking for the group again as they parted ways.

* * *

The next day, Usagi and Naru sat on the school rooftop eating lunch and talking about the previous day’s events. Usagi recounted some of the aftermath of the meeting with the governor, “So it all went great in the end. The biggest mess was actually dealing with the press after we left the building. I almost wanted to de-transform and pose as some visitor instead of dealing with them, but the others insisted that we’d have to deal with them at some point. They thought it was best to deal with them sooner rather than later, so we had an impromptu press conference before heading home.”

“Glad it went so well. Hopefully this will lead to better things in the end,” Naru said before taking a bite of her lunch.

“Yeah, I sure hope so. And even better is now I get to help contribute to my parents’ Let’s Get a New House fund,” Usagi smiled. She was looking forward to the day she could say goodbye to the old apartment.

“I still think you should hire a lawyer to deal with the school,” Naru muttered to herself.

“It’s getting too late in the year to really do anything. It’s better to just wait the year out. Hopefully I’ll be done with Haruna-sensei in March and have a good teacher next year. Sure, it is going to suck to have to repeat a year, but I resigned myself to it a few months back,” Usagi argued.

“I guess that is true,” Naru conceded, both girls falling into a silence that was interrupted by the door opening.

A bluenette stepped out on the roof. She looked surprise to see them and she gave a slight bow before saying, “Sorry, I did not know anyone else would be up here. I will take my leave.”

“No, it’s fine. Ami, right?” Usagi said, speaking up for the two of them. At the girl’s shy nod, she added, “Come on over and join us. We don’t mind the extra company, right, Naru?”

“Not at all,” Naru answered, scooting over to give Ami some room to sit.

“Thank you,” Ami said, taking a seat in the offered space.

“So you heard about the whole event down at the airport, right? What do you think about those girls whose supposed job is to fight evil?” Usagi began, deciding to start with a topic that seemed neutral.

* * *

“You think you could make it to my house without getting lost today?” Naru asked after school.

“Yeah, sure. Why?” Usagi asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

“I need to go check on my cousin Rui. You know, the one that plays tennis? Well, she was acting weird yesterday so my aunt just wanted me to go to her practice today and make sure everything is okay. I’ll probably be home in an hour,” Naru said, gesturing as she spoke.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll see you later, then, right?” Usagi asked, waving off her friend.

“Yep,” Naru said, giving her a smile as they parted ways. Naru headed for the nearby high school to check on her cousin. Rui had always been a passionate tennis player, but recently her cousin’s love for the sport had turned scarily obsessive. Her aunt had asked her to check on her after she had gotten home extremely late from tennis practice the previous day.

It wasn’t hard to find her. Rui was a popular student and her practices tended to attract a crowd; today was no exception. Most of the crowd comprised of boys but there were some female classmates scattered throughout. Naru managed to push her way to the front. Rui was swinging the tennis racket with more force than usual, that was true, but she appeared normal for the most part.

Naru glanced up when she heard someone call out to her to see one of Rui’s classmates with a worried look on her face. She gave her a smile, “Hey, Aki-san, right? Is something wrong?”

“I am guessing Rui’s mom sent you to check on her?” Aki asked, getting straight to the point.

“Yeah, she said Rui got home unusually late from tennis school last night and she was acting more obsessed with tennis than normal. She wanted to me to try and talk some sense into Rui, or at least figure out why there was a sudden change in character,” Naru answered.

“Well, we aren’t exactly sure why it happened but she began behaving oddly after this business man came by. They exchanged a few words and he appeared to give her some advice. Ever since then she’s been acting oddly,” Aki explained, crossing her arms and looking toward Rui worriedly.

“I’ll try to talk to her after practice, before she heads for tennis school, and see what’s up.” Naru assured with a smile. She turned to watch the practice, hoping everything was okay with Rui and that she hadn’t been targeted by the Dark Kingdom.

* * *

Naru never actually made it home, it turns out. After a worrisome walk to the tennis school with Rui being extremely standoffish, she decided to call Usagi and was greeted fairly quickly, “Hey, Naru, something up?”

“You know how I mentioned earlier how Rui was acting weirdly according to my aunt? Well, I managed to catch her and she really is acting weird. Usagi, I’m worried that the Dark Kingdom may have gotten to her,” Naru said, shifting her weight to lean against the building.

“And you want me and Luna to come down to make sure that is the case and not her having a bad case of nerves?” she could hear Usagi shuffling through her stuff.

“Yeah, if you could,” Naru requested as she pulled out the address of the tennis school. Usagi said she would try to get there as soon as possible and to hang tight before hanging up the phone.

Naru managed to stay in her place for maybe five minutes before her worry about Rui overcame her. She would just check on her cousin quickly and then go back to the entrance to meet Usagi, she figured. She let out a whistle when she finally located her cousin. Apparently, Rui had challenged some pro players and was currently running them into the ground. While Naru had always figured her cousin was more than capable of going pro, she’d thought it would be a few years off. But if she had really evolved into this type of player already, she wouldn’t need to wait.

However, the more she watched her cousin interact with the players, the more convinced she was that something was very wrong. Her cousin may have a competitive edge sometimes, sure, but she had never seen a mean streak to this extent before. She wanted to stay and make sure nothing else serious happened but she knew that Usagi would be arriving soon and would only be more concerned if she was not waiting for them at the entrance.

Reluctantly, she left the fence and made her way back to the entrance, hoping Usagi would not be too much longer. Settling back into the position she had been in before, she was thankful when Haruka’s car came to a screeching halt a few parking spaces down from the school. Haruka and Michiru were first out of the car while Usagi had to be coaxed out, apparently a tad bit scared by Haruka’s driving habits, as Naru approached them.

“Thanks for coming,” Naru said as Usagi finally straightened out.

“Not a problem. So you think your cousin may be possessed by the enemy?” Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, she is acting like some other possessed people. The weird thing is that no one at school was acting the same way. If anything, they were all freaked out by her unusual behavior. So it looks like-” Naru started only to be interrupted.

“She maybe the only one possessed,” Luna finished for her.

At Naru’s nod, Luna spoke again, “While it is uncommon, since the Dark Kingdom has always favored a mass group energy stealing, they may have changed tactics because they know we are aware of their preference. They may be hoping to catch us off guard. If it had not been for you knowing this victim, this probably would have gone largely unnoticed until someone closer to us a victim.”

“So it does appear that she is a victim,” Naru said after a minute or so of silence.

 “Yes, so that means you three need to transform. The type of youma that we are about to encounter is different from the ones you three have fought before. These are stored in containers and use the container to feed off of their victim. They are not at full power until a certain point. If we can find the source that the youma is using to feed off of Naru’s cousin, we can destroy any shot of it coming to full power, understood?” Luna said, turning to the three girls.

 They nodded in agreement then ducked into a nearby alleyway to transform. After, Usagi turned to Naru and said, “All right, lead the way.”

 Naru nodded, taking them back to where she had last seen Rui, hoping her cousin had not somehow up and left with her noticing. Thankfully, she was still there, except she was now wildly practicing her serve instead of beating up a couple of pros. Luna’s eyes narrowed before she spoke, “Usagi, aim your tiara at Rui and try to get her to drop the tennis racket. Once she does that, Haruka, Michiru, aim your attacks at the tennis racket. I think that is where the youma is currently incubating.”

 “Got it, Luna,” Usagi said, removing her tiara and preparing to launch it at the supposedly possessed racket when the racket began to glow.

 Luna groaned in frustration, “Get inside the court now, you three. We are too late, this youma is already emerging.”

 Haruka and Michiru used the fence to get over while Usagi turned to Naru with a questioning look. Naru pointed further down the fence, knowing what question Usagi was asking. Usagi quickly found the door and went through just as the youma fully emerged. It looked like the average run of the mill youma except for the fact it was holding a tennis racket. Usagi couldn’t remember any youma actually holding an item before – or, rather, continuing to hold it in a fight. Before she could put too much more thought into this new development, the youma attacked. Usagi dodged to the right and the others to the left, trying to get away from the energy ball. It managed to make contact with her, however, and all of a sudden she found herself trapped in a tennis ball.

 “Sailor Moon!” the two girls called.

 “I’m all right. Just get me out of this thingggggggggg,” Usagi began only to have her pitch increase as she suddenly found herself several feet in the air. As soon as she was more than a few feet off the ground, she closed her eyes tightly. Crap, this was not good. She hated heights, she hated them a lot; that was one of the few things that predated the life changing incident a few years back. The incident – which had also led to her terrifying fear of water – certainly had not helped the matter, instead making her want to stay on solid ground as much as possible.

 “Splash-” “Spiral-” she heard Haruka and Michiru start to try and power up their attacks only to come to a halt. The youma must have tried attacking them, too. She didn’t have too much time to think as she suddenly felt her elevation change before she slammed into the ground. Apparently the youma was going to try and beat her into a pulp, she thought as she continued to be smacked against the ground several times. This was going to really hurt in the morning.

 “Dimension Dance!” the attack call signified that Pluto had finally decided to appear. Whatever she did with her attack did the trick, Usagi finally feeling her mobility return to her when the large tennis ball encompassing her disappeared. She sighed in relief, opening her eyes finally and thanking the lord to be back on solid ground.

 Michiru helped her to her feet, looking her over in concern. Usagi gave her a reassuring smile and said, "I’m fine, just give me a second."

Usagi took a deep breath before turning to face the youma who was currently distracted by Haruka and Pluto. She removed her tiara, aimed it at the youma – hoping her balance was not too off from the bounce-a-thon – and threw it while yelling, "Moon Tiara Action!"

Thankfully, her coordination was not off too much and the tiara made contact, taking out the youma. Haruka returned to the others, giving Usagi a once over and asking, "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just a bit off balance, if anything. I’m fine now that I am back on solid ground," Usagi said, giving both girls an attempt at a reassuring smile.

"Good. We should probably get out of here before Naru's cousin wakes up," Haruka said, making a motion to Rui who was, indeed, coming to again.

"Right," Usagi muttered in agreement as they made their way out of the court to where Naru was waiting.

* * *

"How is Rui doing?" Usagi asked Naru when they met up for their usual school walk the next morning.

"Good, except she doesn’t remember acting really weird. It’s odd. She has a couple of memories of the last few days but the last extremely clear memory she has is of the conversation with that businessman that her classmates mentioned. Everything else is kind of a blur," Naru said, contemplating the mystery of what happened to her cousin.

"Well, I doubt we’ve seen the last of this new Dark Kingdom minion. Hopefully we’ll get a better understanding of what is going on during the next attack," Usagi said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, I hope so," Naru agreed.

"Did Luna mention anything about the new enemy when you were at home?" Usagi asked curiously.

"No, she was too busy writing up the report to give Inose-sama. I expect she’ll drop it off while we’re at school," Naru replied.

"It’s still so weird to think that we’re going to be working for the government now," Usagi said, going over the events of the last few days.

"Yeah, but at least you’re going to get paid for helping save the world from these strange aliens," Naru pointed out.

"And, who knows, maybe someday soon my parents will finally be able to buy a new house and we’ll be able to move out of that stupid apartment," Usagi said hopefully.

"That's the spirit," Naru smiled. The girls fell into silence as they continued their journey to school.

_So_ _, just as Jadeite goes down, we find ourselves faced with some unknown minion of Queen Beryl's. Luna thinks it’s most likely one of the members of the Shitennou – she thinks Nephrite. Since we haven’t seen hide nor hair of him yet, it’s hard to say for sure._

_We are supposed to get our first paycheck tomorrow. Luna will be the one picking up the checks and any missives from the governor's office._ _She’s mainly acting as a messenger for us so we don’t have to worry about showing up at the office at odd times._

_The first check is supposed to be compensation for not only beating Jadeite_ _, but for taking down the other enemies we fought since we woke as Sailor Senshi. I hope it’s a good amount._

_Our meeting with the Prime Minister is two weeks from Saturday. I_ _’m actually more nervous about meeting him than I was about meeting the governor. Then again, the minister is of higher ranking. I just hope he takes us seriously._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note. Concerning the origin of humans. I am very much aware humans evolved from an earlier life form, I am a firm believer in that. The reason why I went this route with this story was because I felt it was more plausible than the other option which was humans forgot somehow to build spacecraft.
> 
> A slightly longer than normal preview for chapter 10:
> 
> Usagi took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves again and stood. Most of the other girls were all ready at the door waiting to bet let through the door. Once they were all there he led them into another room where someone else was waiting to speak to them. He spoke in a calm tone saying, “Congratulations for making it so far. The next round will tell whether or not you will actually get photos published that were taking by Shinokawa-san. Remember you want to stand out as much as possible during the photos. The more unique and beautiful the photos are the more likely you are to be picked. How the audience and Shinokawa-san reacts to you are going the two factors in telling you whether or not you are likely to be selected. So do your best to appeal to both of them while you are out there and not just one. Leave your bags here for now. When Shinokawa-san wants you to change outfits he will instruct you to return here. You will change outfits and then go back out for the next set of photos. Best of luck.”
> 
> He waited for them to stash their belongings. Once they were all ready he opened the door and led them into a stadium style room. She could see several bleachers filled with people. She tried to keep her gaze down and not look for Haruka and Michiru knowing she was probably confusing the older girls. Thankfully she was provided a good distraction when Shinokawa was returning from a separate room with his camera.  
> She briefly wondered if the people stealing part of the camera had an on/off switch. She didn’t have much time to wonder about this much more as an announcer voice began calling out their numbers, in numerical order. The other girls took a step forward did a slight bow, waved at the crowd before stepping back into line. When her number came up Usagi took a step forward giving the crowd a nervous smile and a wave before falling back into line.
> 
> After the girl next to her went the announcer came over and said, “The first theme is fun at the beach. Please head over to the pool area for this.”  
> Usagi nearly froze at that but managed to get her feet moving towards the pool area reluctantly. She hadn’t been to the beach since the quake, heck she very rarely went in the water unless it was to get clean. Sestuna had recently begun working on getting her over her fear but she still had a long way to go.
> 
> She wondered briefly if she could get away with getting some neat photos without going actually in the water. No matter how odd she would probably would look it was better than her having a panic attack mid-contest she figured as they reached the designated area. The other girls headed straight to the pool while Usagi toyed with the water with her foot not actually getting in. She looked up in surprise when she heard a snap of a camera lens realizing that Shinokawa had deciding to photograph her toying with the water.
> 
> She looked up when one of the other girls called out to her, “Hey would you mind throwing one of the balls to us.”
> 
> Usagi looked behind her to see one of the brightly colored beach balls. She grabbed one and threw it over in their direction losing her balance as the ball left her hands and falling in the water. Usagi grabbed a hold of the pool ledge and quickly pulled herself out before she could feel the onsetting panic over take her. Once out of the pool she took several deep breaths, reminding herself that she was out of the water. She was nowhere near ready to go in the water like the others but she hoped Shinokawa had gotten some photos of that because she doubted she would willingly repeat that in the deep end. 
> 
> Though maybe…she looked around and sure enough there appeared to be a shallow end. It was still deeper than she wanted to go in but the first step looked like it was shallow enough that her inbuilt panic wouldn’t kick in by just standing there. So she went and stood on the first step somehow getting dragged into a game of catch with the other girls. Finally after several minutes Shinokawa made a signal and they were told to change into the dresses they had packed.
> 
> Usagi took a deep breath of relief as they returned to the room they had come from. She hadn’t even paid attention to the crowd during that little section because she had been so nervous. But judging by the other girls comments she was the only one. She would have to try and act crowd pleasing during the next section she promised herself as they stepped back out to the roar of the crowd, at least it appeared that she was done with water. 
> 
> See everyone on January 4th! And have a good holidays!


	10. Chapter 10: For the Camera!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hi everybody! I hope you all had a lovely holidays. I know this is a few days late, but here's the thing. I got sick a couple of days ago and am now just getting over it. I am back in the swing of things. And Chapter 11 is well on its way to being done.
> 
> Another thing with school starting back up and me no longer having a buffer I am moving the story to a once a week update. This is just as much for my beta as for me. I have a poll up on my FF.net profile asking what day I should update. You have until the 14th to answer. And depending on the most popular choice you an expect Chapter 12 sometime between the 21st-27th. From that point on all chapters will be uploaded on that day each week unless I state otherwise. Or feel like uploading early.
> 
> Oh and starting soon I will have a daily 100 drabble fic centered around Zoicite, Kunzite, and of course ZoicitexKunzite. Mostly AU stuff. Nothing fancy or long. Most of them won't be betaed on first upload so expect some errors until I get the revised version back from juliemarie12. 
> 
> Thank you time! A thank you to AzarathMetrionZ, PuffGirl1952, ae, ladygoddes8 (yes I realize I still need to send those picture, expect them later today), LoveInTheBattleField, Lucyole, and Light-Sakura for the reviews. To inufan155687, DeadlyThunder195, cook53, IcegoddessLexra, and problemed child for the favs. And to MakiFox and PuffGirl1952 for the follows. And of course a thank you to all of my unknown readers for sitting down and reading this story.
> 
> As always I don't own Sailor Moon, these characters belong to the lovely Naoko Takeuchi and I am simply burrowing them for my story purpose.  
> Enjoy Chapter 10 and I will see you next week!

_Dear Shingo,_

_So this new general is a bit odd. He seems to have an obsession with women – and I do mean an obsession. I mean, Jadeite showed some signs of being obsessive but he usually went after groups. This guy, well, he targeted the photographer..._

"Did you hear that the home ec teacher got engaged?" Naru asked one morning before class started.

"No. Good for her, she always was pretty nice. Wish I could find a boyfriend… Not that anyone would give me a second glance," Usagi said, glancing down at her legs again. She tugged the hem of her skirt down some in her never-ending, futile war to keep her legs covered during school hours.

"I’m sure you’ll find someone eventually,” Naru said, giving her an encouraging smile.

“Yeah, I hope you’re right,” Usagi admitted, turning from her longtime friend to see a guy standing on the edge of the sidewalk. He seemed to be stopping random students and handing over some sort of flyer. He would talk for a bit, making a few motions, then the girls would nod before walking away, chatting animatedly.

“Wonder what that’s all about,” Usagi said as he caught sight of them.

He ran up to them with the same enthusiasm he had toward the others and handed them a copy of the flyers before beginning to speak, “I’m participating in a photography contest where we are supposed to be photographing people in everyday life, so I’m looking for possible participants. There is a payment for those who participate if I win.”

The two girls exchanged glances. It couldn’t hurt, could it? Usagi answered, “I’ll have to check about a couple of things, but I will think about it.”

“Same,” Naru said, giving him a bright smile.

“Thank you,” he said with a slight bow before running off to find more clients.

“Wasn’t that Kijin Shinokawa? I thought he normally does nature photography,” Usagi asked, sounding a bit confused at the apparent change in medium as she watched him approach yet another girl.

“Yeah, but maybe he felt the need to expand his horizons? Either way it wouldn’t hurt to at least check it out,” Naru said, putting her flyer in her shoulder bag.

“I guess…” Usagi said, putting her own flyer away.

“I think Luna may be rubbing off on you. Not every opportunity is going to be a youma attempting to steal someone’s energy. If you are worried, then enter the contest. It certainly can’t hurt to check it out, can it?” Naru said, giving a bit of an eye roll.

“That’s true, I guess. I’ll just ask Mom about it and maybe sign up online tonight,” Usagi said after a second of thought. Naru had a point, and perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to live a little – as long as she did not have to show off her legs too much.

\------------------------------------

While Luna had not been the most enthusiastic about the entrance to the contest Usagi had eventually gotten her consent. The following weekend, Usagi and Naru met up outside the contest hall. Haruka and Michiru were already inside exploring the contest hall to make sure nothing was suspicious. If asked about their location, they were planning to say they had gotten lost and were there to support some friends. It was technically true; they just had additional plans on top of that – not that anyone else needed to know.

 Usagi had tried to grab some of her cuter clothes from her closet: stuff that she felt comfortable in but would not show off most of her issues. She knew most of the first day of the contest was getting info about the contest; the modeling part would not really kick off until tomorrow.

 That didn’t necessarily mean she wouldn’t get eliminated in the first day of rounds. While it was less common than on day two, or later, of competition, it did happen if you didn’t meet the sponsoring company’s image of what they wanted or had a similar issue. They were asked to wear clothes that let the judges see most of the contestants’ bodies, which was why Usagi had packed a pair of shorts in her bag. While she had not felt comfortable wearing them all the way here, she needed them for the first round. She planned on changing in the dressing rooms designated for the contestants not long before she was supposed to be called for her competition and hoping that Haruka and Michiru wouldn’t see her.

 However, because of her waiting around to change, she found herself and Naru having one of their usual disagreements in the changing room. Naru insisted that she needed to inform the other girls sooner rather than later. Usagi, on the other hand, was reluctant to tell them anything yet, wanting to trust them more before dropping such a bombshell. Naru grew more exasperated with the entire thing until she finally left Usagi alone as her number was called.

 That left Usagi to keep herself company and observe the other contestants. Most of them appeared to be around her age, as far as she could tell. There were a few that looked slightly younger or older, but for the most part the contestants appeared to be in middle or high school. She earned a couple of stares but most people seemed too nervous about their own chances to pay her much attention.

 She was drawn out of her thoughts as the door for one of the judge’s room opened. A man came out and called, “Tsukino Usagi, number 368.”

 Usagi took a deep breath, trying to calm her growing nerves, before approaching the man. She gave him a nervous smile as he led her into a room. She recognized Kijin Shinokawa from the day before but not the rest of the room’s occupants, minus one. She had seen the dark brown haired guy, a millionaire named Masato Sanjouin who had become popular recently. Though, she only recognized him because Naru had been badly crushing on the guy. She figured he must be the sponsor of the contest.

 Of course, her entrance earned some raised eyebrows. It was nothing new for her, nor was the following conversation between the judges while she was pretty much ignored. A red-haired guy who she didn’t recognize was the first to speak to her, “Well, you are unusual. May I ask how you came to lose your legs?”

 “I used to live about an hour and a half north of here. The town was pretty much completely destroyed in the earthquake and tsunami two years ago. I barely survived the quake. I was stuck under some rubble when the rescuers found me; in order to free me, they had to amputate my legs,” Usagi explained, resisting the urge to pull at her shorts in the same manner she usually did her sailor senshi skirt.

 “And you picked her out, Shinokawa-san? Did you know this?” he inquired, turning back to the photographer.

 “Yes and no, but this might work to our advantage. I don’t know of any survivors participating in the contest. It could be a nice way to show the world how we are recovering, if she makes her way through the next rounds. She has a good figure,” he said, studying her.

 Usagi blushed slightly, not used to receiving compliments with her legs on display. The other guy seemed to be thinking it over before asking, “So, you are saying pass?”

 “Yes, very much yes,” Shinokawa-san said, leaning back in his chair.

“What about you, Sanjouin-san?” the other guy asked the millionaire.

 “I am with Shinokawa. She has a good figure and would be a bit of an unusual, but good, choice for the photos if she makes it all the way through. I pass her,” he said.

 A quick shot down the line seemed to have the others in agreement, so he turned back to her and smiled, “Well, it appears you have passed on to Round Two. Please exit out the door to the left. We still have a few more contestants to go through. Once we are done, you will be given instructions on what is going to happen and what you will need for tomorrow.”

 Usagi gave them a bright smile before saying, “Thank you for the chance.”

 She focused on getting out of the room before nearly collapsing into the nearest seat in relief. She had actually passed the first round! She was giddy with both shock and happiness. Someone didn’t mind her legs and she may actually get a chance to show off. It seemed like a dream but, as she spotted Naru, she realized it was actually happening.

* * *

“Congratulations! If you are in this room, then you have successfully made it to Day Two of the competition. You are all done for today, but we expect you here bright and early tomorrow with your swimsuits for the first stage of the Day Two Rounds,” the man addressed them with a smile. Usagi’s stomach sank like a stone, though, at the words.

He raised his volume slightly so he could be heard over the excited chatter of the other contestants as he continued, “If you would, please, proceed in an orderly fashion to the tables to collect the information required for tomorrow’s rounds. The coordinators will make sure you are all set, on our end, for the competition. If for whatever reason you want to withdraw, this will be your best chance to do so.”

Judging by the amount of chatter, almost everyone in the room planned to proceed to the next round of competition. However, at the word swimsuit, Usagi had made up her mind: there was no way she was going to wear a swimsuit in such a public round.

“I am sorry but I would like to withdraw my application into the contest,” Usagi said when she made it to the front of the line as one of the coordinators attempted to hand her the information needed for the next day.

“Usagi?” Naru asked, just in front of her friend with a surprised look on her face at the comment.

“I don’t feel comfortable taking part in the next part of the competition,” Usagi explained.

Naru’s frown deepened. She turned to the contest coordinator and said, “Excuse us for one second.”

She grabbed a hold of Usagi’s hand and dragged her off to a quieter corner of the room before asking, “Why?”

“Because I don’t think anyone will take me seriously in a swimsuit,” Usagi began, holding her hand up when it looked like Naru was going to interrupt, “And I’m not quite ready to tell Haruka and Michiru about everything yet.”

“Usagi, you need to tell them at some point. Same thing with Luna,” Naru said, a tad bit exasperated.

“I know, it’s just-” Usagi broke off for a second before continuing, “It’s just that every time I think about it, all I can see is Takeshi and the other’s taunts.”

Naru let out a sigh of frustration before replying, “You really shouldn’t let those idiots’ taunts get to you. Look at your two new friends; they don’t seem to care much at all about impressions.”

“I guess that is true,” Usagi conceded reluctantly.

“And what are you going to tell them when they found out you dropped out? They aren’t the type to let something drop with just a ‘because I didn’t want to’ type of excuse,” Naru pointed out.

“That is true,” Usagi said after some thought.

“So give it a shot. Put some faith in the others and let them see the real you,” Naru said, crossing her arms.

Usagi thought it over for a second before reluctantly nodding her head and agreeing, “All right.”

“That’s the spirit!” Naru said, enthusiastically punching the air. She grabbed ahold of Usagi’s hand and gently dragged the girl back in the direction of the coordinator.

Usagi gave the man a sheepish smile before saying, “I changed my mind; I do want to continue the contest. What was my number again?”

“You are number 368. Please be here by ten tomorrow, you two, and bring the items requested on the sheet with you,” he said, giving the girls an encouraging smile while handing over a couple of sheets of paper over.

 “Thank you,” Naru said, giving the man a smile before dragging Usagi off to the meeting place. It didn’t take long for them to get there and, as the girls waited, Usagi scanned over the list.

 “Naru, where am I supposed to get some of this stuff? Sestuna hasn’t gotten me to the point where I need a swimsuit yet,” Usagi said, stuffing the paper into her bag.

 “We’re about the same size. I’ll lend you one of mine and anything else on the list that you don’t have. It’s fine,” Naru said, waving off the worry.

 “Thanks, Naru,” Usagi said, trying to give her a bright smile in spite of her worries for the next day’s portion of the contest. As she saw the others finally coming to join them, she quickly pushed the worries out of her mind. She would have to face her fears and concerns tomorrow.

* * *

As promised, Naru showed up the next day at the contest hall with the missing things Usagi needed to compete in the contest. Usagi stared at the swimsuit with a sense of trepidation. This was something she was not looking forward to at all.

Naru gave her a supportive slap on the back after she finished changing and said, “Come on, Usagi! Stop being so nervous. It will all be fine. Haruka and Michiru aren’t going to care about your legs!”

“You don’t know that,” Usagi muttered under her breath but finally moved to put on the swimsuit. Haruka and Michiru, who had been unable to find anything the day before, were back today to actually support the younger girls. They were still keeping an eye out for any unusual activity, but so far nothing had popped up. It looked like, for once, this was a normal contest.

She was drawn out of her thoughts when she heard a voice call out, “All right, girls, it is time to start off Round Two of the contest. You will be called up in groups of six to be photographed by Kijin Shinokawa. You will go through several sets of photographs using the items we requested you to bring. Once done, you are dismissed. Winners will be picked on who is most photogenic, how the audience reacts to them, and how well they interact with the camera. You will be photographed one last time in a private room before being dismissed to make sure we have the correct numbers. Prizes will be sent out in about two weeks. Will numbers 494, 48, 51, 272, 414, and 63 please come up? You are the first group.”

Some excited chatter followed the end of the announcement. Naru made her way over to her friend, giving her an encouraging smile and saying, “See, it won’t be too bad.”

“Don’t say that yet. We haven’t seen what the audience is going to be like,” Usagi replied.

“Try to be positive for once,” Naru smiled, then changed topics to try to calm Usagi down. They talked a bit about what they could do. Usagi was hoping they would be in the same group so they could do some things together, even if she knew the odds were against them.

However, just as she suspected, that was not going to happen as the next group was called, “341, 367, 301, 462, 309, and 396, please report.”

“That’s me!” Naru said enthusiastically, standing up. She turned to face Usagi one last time, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze before saying, “Keep calm, okay? You’ll do great. The crowd will love you.”

“I hope so. And I hope everything goes well for you,” Usagi said, giving her a smile before Naru went to go into the next room.

She pulled her phone out to try and entertain herself until her group was called but found it hard to concentrate and ended up putting it back in her bag. However, she was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a familiar hiss of, “Usagi”

Looking down, she wasn’t too surprised to see Luna staring up at her. Getting down so she could hear the cat better, she said, “Hey, what’s up?”

“First off, where’s Naru?” Luna asked.

“Huh? Oh, her number just got called to perform. Why?” Usagi asked, tilting her head.

“We have a problem; the enemy is at work here. They are using cameras to capture people and send them to a pocket dimension to drain their energy,” Luna explained.

“But how? This round is on a public stage, unless they are using the other stage…OH!” Usagi said, catching on.

“Precisely,” Luna sighed.

“All right, I’ll hang back after my group gets called into the private shots and try to draw the youma out. Can you see if you can find Haruka and Michiru?” Usagi asked, thinking over a plan of action.

“All right, I will see you after the round. Try not to get to caught up in this,” Luna instructed before disappearing off into the crowd to find the others.

As it turns out, Usagi did not have much longer to wait as the man came out again with her number this time, “368, 287, 247, 233, 432, and 32, please report.”

Usagi took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves again, and stood. Most of the other girls were already at the door waiting to be let through. Once they were all there, he led them into another room before speaking in a calm tone, “Congratulations for making it so far. The next round will tell whether or not you will actually get photos taken by Shinokawa-san published. Remember, you want to stand out as much as possible. The more unique and beautiful the photos are, the more likely you are to be picked. How the audience and Shinokawa-san react to you are the two factors in whether or not you are likely to be selected. So, do your best to appeal to both of them while you are out there, not just one. Leave your bags here for now. When Shinokawa-san wants you to change outfits, he will instruct you to return here. You will change outfits and then go back out for the next set of photos. Best of luck.”

He waited for them to stash their belongings. Once they were ready, he opened the door and led them into a stadium style room. She could see several bleachers filled with people. She tried to keep her gaze down and not look for Haruka and Michiru, knowing she was probably confusing the older girls. Thankfully, she was provided a good distraction when Shinokawa returned from a separate room with his camera.

She briefly wondered if the people stealing part of the camera had an on/off switch. However, her thought were halted when an announcer voice began calling out their numbers in numerical order. The other girls took a step forward, did a slight bow, and waved at the crowd before stepping back into line. When her number came up, Usagi took a step forward, giving the crowd a nervous smile and a wave before falling back into line.

After the girl next to her went, the announcer came over and said, “The first theme is fun at the beach. Please head over to the pool area for this.”

Usagi nearly froze at that but managed to get her feet moving toward the pool area reluctantly. She hadn’t been to the beach since the quake; heck, she very rarely went in the water unless it was to get clean. Sestuna had recently started working on getting her over her fear, but she still had a long way to go.

She wondered briefly if she could get away with getting some neat photos without going actually in the water. No matter how odd she would probably look, it was better than having a panic attack mid-contest, she figured as they reached the designated area. The other girls headed straight to the pool while Usagi toyed with the water with her foot, not actually getting in. She looked up in surprise when she heard a snap of a camera lens, realizing that Shinokawa had decided to photograph her messing with the water.

She looked up when one of the other girls called out to her, “Hey, would you mind throwing one of the balls to us?”

Usagi looked behind her to see one of the brightly colored beach balls. She grabbed one and threw it over in their direction, losing her balance as the ball left her hands and falling in the water. Usagi grabbed ahold of the pool ledge and quickly pulled herself out before she could feel the impending panic take over. Once out of the pool she took several deep breaths, reminding herself that she was out of the water. She was nowhere near ready to go in the water like the others, but she hoped Shinokawa had gotten some photos of that because she doubted she would willingly repeat that in the deep end.

Though maybe…she looked around and, sure enough, there appeared to be a shallow end. It was still deeper than she wanted to go in, but the first step looked like it was shallow enough that her fear wouldn’t kick in by just standing there. She went and stood on the first step, somehow getting dragged into a game of catch with the other girls. Finally, after several minutes, Shinokawa made a signal and they were told to change into the dresses they had packed.

Usagi took a deep breath of relief as they returned to the other room. She hadn’t even paid attention to the crowd during that little section because she had been so nervous. But, judging by the other girls’ comments, she was the only one. She would try and act crowd-pleasing during the next section, she promised herself as they stepped back out to the roar of the crowd. At least it appeared that she was done with water.

* * *

Usagi gave a sigh of relief as they finally exited the arena, the last of the girls to come through. The contest was finally over and she just hoped she hadn’t made a complete mockery of herself during it. Well, and that Haruka and Michiru didn’t think any less of her after seeing her condition. They were being called in one by one for the last photo.

Digging through her bag for her transformation locket, she found it just as the last girl went forward. She took a deep breath after checking to make sure she was completely on her own, hoped the others weren’t too far off, and said, “Moon Prism Power, Make Up!”

She prepared her tiara and waited for the door to open. Hoping that Luna was not lying, she tossed the tiara as soon as the door opened. She heard it make a clunk with some object then ran into the next room where she found Shinokawa on the floor, the camera emitting some sort of smoke that was beginning to take a shape as Haruka and Michiru busted through the adjoining door. Too nervous to make eye contact with the other girls, she watched the youma finally solidify.

Michiru, who had apparently been using the time to power up, made the first move, knocking over the youma with her attack, followed shortly by Haruka’s. However, the attacks didn’t do any damage; Usagi watched them get absorbed by what appeared to be camera flashes. All three girls ducked in unison as several beams shot out of the youma’s arm.

Usagi gulped when she saw objects the beams hit disappear in flashes of light. That was not good. How the heck were they going to have enough time to power up an attack while dodging beams of light from the youma? This would be a good time to see either Tuxedo Kamen or Sailor Pluto, but she wasn’t seeing any sign of either. Go figure, one of the times they needed the other members of the group most, they were nowhere to be found.

She watched her problems double when the youma used a mirror to capture the others. Great, just great, she thought. Now she was down two people with no way to easily distract the youma. On top of that, she wasn’t sure if she could hold out dodging attacks until further help arrived. As she dodged another reflected beam, a thought occurred to her: could she use the mirrors to catch the youma with its own trick? It would be extremely risky, but she was running low on options. She continued to dodge the beams, looking for a possible opening. Finally seeing the corner, perhaps her best option, she made her way over. She would have to time this just right, otherwise she was screwed.

She took a deep breath as the youma aimed again and shot the beams. Usagi waited to jump until she was certain she couldn’t wait ,any longer. The beam barely missed her but it did its job as it hit the mirror and reflected back. Unfortunately, it did not do what Usagi was hoping it would, but it did damage the youma’s photo arm enough to keep it from being useful down the road. Praying that her tiara would do the trick, she removed it, aimed it, and tossed it in the direction of the youma, “Moon Tiara Magic!”

She let out a sigh of relief as the youma turned to moon dust and the photographs slowly began turning back into normal people. Most looked a bit startled from the strange experience, but for the most part okay. Naru spotted her, giving her a quick motion to indicate that she would find them later, then Usagi grabbed the older girls and dragged them outside to find a more private spot to return to their normal forms.

* * *

The girls waited for Naru to rejoin them from the chaos of the contest hall. Luna was somewhere in the mess, but Usagi trusted her to find her way back to Naru’s house without problem; she was more concerned about her childhood friend. They had mostly been silent since the battle but it had to be broken eventually. After a while longer, Haruka brought up the dreaded topic, “Koneko, your legs. You never mentioned them before. Why?”

“I’m sorry, I know I should have told you sooner. It’s just-” Usagi began before breaking off. She saw the girls exchange a glance before she continued, “The last time I was open about my issues, it ended less than pleasantly for me. Luna and Naru have been trying to convince me for a while to tell you guys, but I kept finding myself terrified at the thought.”

“Koneko, what happened?” Haruka asked.

 “It’s a long story; one I would prefer to save for tomorrow. I still feel nervous about this whole affair, but it’s time you guys knew everything. Tomorrow afternoon, after classes let out, I’ll explain everything, all right?” Usagi promised, giving them a nervous smile.

 The older girls exchanged a glance before Michiru requested, “All right, tomorrow afternoon, then. But don’t hide things from us anymore, please?”

 “Of course,” Usagi said, giving them a bright smile. Though saying it did not necessarily mean it was actually going to happen, she could at least try. She was brought out of her thoughts as she noticed Naru and Luna finally emerging from the crowded contest hall.

  _So thus ends that wacky contest. I’m curious to see whether or not this was only a fake contest like the Cinderella Caravan or if they were being serious. It would be nice to actually have a chance to win something without the enemy involved, but I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon._

_Tomorrow, I face my biggest worry since becoming a senshi. Will the others accept me now that they know about my issues? Truth be told, they only know the tip of the iceberg, and tomorrow they will find out about most of them. I just hope that they still like and respect me after tomorrow’s meeting concludes._

_I guess it is up to the fates now.  
_

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hope you enjoyed Chapter 10. Here's the preview for Chapter 11:
> 
> “Does someone have a crush?” Naru teased lightly as they began to move into another section of the mall.
> 
> “What? No! I just mean that the fact he is fighting the enemy without any prompting left an impression that’s all,” Usagi said putting her hands up in defense. 
> 
> “I see your point. Do you have any idea why he joined the fight?” Naru said bobbing her head in agreement.
> 
> “No, he is more mysterious than the other mystery member of our group is in some ways. Though at least with her we know she’s one of us. Luna doesn’t have a clue who this guy is. And I think that really unnerves her to a degree,” Usagi said as they settled down on a nearby bench to observe people again.
> 
> “Because she knows she is supposed to exist but she doesn’t feel like he is supposed to right?” Naru asked.
> 
> “Pretty much. From what little I have been able to pry out of Luna back in the old days there was only the warriors, none of which were male,” Usagi said glancing around some.
> 
> “Anyway I am wondering when he will show up if at all," Usagi said after a minute or so of silence. She unfolded her own copy of the letter she had received. Double checking her suspicions. No time was mentioned specifically just the mall and that he wanted to meet her in the late afternoon.
> 
> "Well if it is the enemy it would make more sense for him to show up if this was a trap. If it is not well I think he will show up. Though his method of trying to find the senshi is a bit odd to say the least," Naru said looking around for a second.
> 
> "I agree but you would think he would have been smart enough to specify a specific location," Usagi said glancing around at the crowd. Still no person in particular who looked like he maybe Tuxedo Kamen. Though she did notice the millionaire that Naru had been crushing on was window shopping. That seemed a bit odd.
> 
> She gave Naru a bit of a nudge before pointing at him saying, "Speaking of crushes, look who is here."
> 
> Naru caught sight of who she was pointing at before flushing her own bright red. Usagi giggled slightly at her friends reaction before saying,   
> "What? Surprised to see him?"
> 
> "Yeah. Well he was apparently a bit of a recluse until recently. So for him to be spotted at a shopping mall seems a bit odd," Naru admitted glancing away.
> 
> "Been doing your researh?" Usagi said raising an eyebrow.
> 
> "I have a copy of his book," Naru muttered to herself but Usagi heard her loud and clear none the less. Usagi finally realized what the book she had seen her friend buried in lately was about. Naru had been very careful about hiding it from her, stuffing it in her bag as soon as she knew Usagi was around. 
> 
> "And he actually says that in an autobiography?" Usagi asked in surprise.
> 
> "Not exactly," Naru admitted.
> 
> "So you did some research!" Usagi exclaimed making sure to keep her voice on the low side not to attract too much attention.
> 
> See you next week!


	11. Chapter 11: The Masked Marauder!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: GO VOTE IN THE POLL! I don't care if you all ready have please vote again. The polling is acting really weird and won't register the first set of votes so please vote again. 
> 
> Second off. My aplogies for the delay. This chapter was rather problematic in getting written. I kept hitting blocks. I literally got it to juliemarie12 late Saturday night the Monday before it was supposed to be posted. After that well stuff happened. In the following order:
> 
> • things happened that caused juliemarie12 not to be able to get chapter edited  
> • I left for a five day trip to Los Angeles  
> • I was too busy during afore mentioned trip to write  
> • I ran the Tinkerbell Half Marathon on Sunday  
> • Flew back to CO on Monday  
> • Got miserably sick  
> • Got edited chapter from juliemarie12 on Monday  
> • Finally felt better on Thursday and finally began work on Chapter 12
> 
> If all goes well (chapter 12 is coming along a lot easier than this chapter) chapter 12 should hopefully be in your hands either on the mornings of February 4th or 6th (depends on when I get chapter to juliemarie12, when I get it back, and whether or not I am in LA again, and whether or not I can figure out how to upload a chapter with an IPad).
> 
> My apologies for the long delay hopefully it won't happen again. Or at least it won't happen again for an unplanned length to this extent. 
> 
> First off thanks to Ladygoddess8 (I know, I know, I keep forgetting), AzarathMetrionZ, PuffGirl1952, LoveInTheBattleField, and Light-Sakura for reviewing. I also love the fact that you guys review so much I can just copy paste your names from previous ANs (it makes my life a LOT easier). To Penbrook5200, supernena25, Sha115, Lupin and Tonks Forever, gundam1, and Belle of Ponderosa for the favs! To reereerenaissance, Belle of Ponderosa, and sorel y for the follows. To hungrytiger and peachfairie for the comments on AO3!
> 
> Also a big thanks to all of my readers for now having me up to nearly 4,400 hits on FF.net and up to 900 hits on AO3. I think my eyes bulged out at the later. Wasn't expecting that much popularity at the newer site. Hell I wasn't expecting that much popularity at either sites. Glad everyone likes the story!
> 
> As always a thank you to my unknown readers! I love you all!
> 
> Once again I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best! 
> 
> Before we begin. I aplogize for any awkwardness of this chapter. I had a very hard time writing this chapter oddly enough beyond the first scene.  
> Enough rambling please enjoy chapter 11!

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today I put aside everything and faced one of my greatest fears_ _: w_ _hether or not the other girls would continue to respect me after they knew about my legs…_

 

“I can’t do this. I really, really can’t do this,” was the first thing out of Usagi’s mouth the following afternoon upon arriving at Naru’s house. She and her friend had headed home right after class had ended and were waiting for the older girls to arrive.

 

“Usagi, it will be fine,” Naru said, trying to assure her longtime friend. She had managed to convince her to take off her legs and work on her exercises while they waited.

 

“Easy for you to say; you aren’t a senshi and don’t have to worry about whether or not they will respect you both in and out of battle,” Usagi said shifting slightly in nervousness.

 

Naru sighed before replying, “You have too little faith in others. Besides, you said they handled it fine yesterday during the youma fight.”

 

“For good reason,” Usagi muttered in reply, then paused for a second before continuing, “But at the time of the youma fight they had just found out. While they appeared to be fine with it last night, they may have changed their mind since then.”

 

Naru was cut off from replying by the doorbell ringing. Usagi froze as Naru stood up from the table, heading for the door and saying over her shoulder, “Look, it will be okay. It’s out in the open now; you can’t hide everything from everyone. You’ll feel better after this, all right?”

 

“I still don’t like the fact that we are telling them,” Usagi muttered to herself as she resumed her exercises, noticing Luna pacing out of the corner of her eye. The cat may have been verbally denying it all afternoon, but her body language portrayed her own sort of nervousness.

 

“You had to tell them eventually,” Luna said, looking over.

 

“I know. It’s just easier said than done,” Usagi replied. She could hear the girls climbing up the stairs toward Naru’s room. The nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach increased with each second.

 

“So what’s the deal, anyway? Why didn’t she tell us about this before?” she heard Haruka ask as the girls neared door.

 

“It’s not my story to be told. As for why she keeps it hidden, well…she really hates talking about the whole thing, so go easy on her, please. We’ve been trying to convince her for weeks now to tell you guys, but she kept refusing until last night,” Naru responded.

 

“Why is she so frightened of this? She seemed quite open about everything before,” Michiru inquired.

 

“She’s not so much as scared as much as very subconscious about the whole thing. When she first started school here, she was teased a whole lot about it, thus her wanting to hide it as much as possible,” Naru replied, sounding close enough that Usagi figured they had to be either at the door or nearly there.

 

Absent-mindedly chewing her lip, she waited for the inevitable. She only hoped that their opinion of her had not changed because of her condition.

 

A few seconds later, the door opened. Naru was the first one through, followed closely by the other girls. There was silence for a few seconds before a sense of deja vu of when Usagi had discovered Haruka had been a girl swept over them. Haruka stated, “So you have no legs?”

 

“It’s complicated. I have prosthetic legs, as you can see, that Luna is sitting next, but not actual legs. No, I haven’t had them in almost two years,” Usagi explained nervously. So far they were reacting okay, it looked like, but they’d yet to say what they actually thought about being leaded by a disabled girl.

 

“What exactly happened?” Michiru asked after a few minutes of silence, during which the older girls took a seat.

 

Usagi took a deep breath and began the story she would rather just shove into a distant corner of her mind, “It’s a long and complicated story; one I rarely talk about when I can avoid it. The big thing, though, is that I am not a Tokyo native. My family moved here well over a year and a half ago. You see, up until I was twelve years old I lived in a small no-name town near the coast to the north of here – about an hour and a half by train to be exact. My father worked for the local paper as a photographer, much like he does here. My mother was a housewife charged with keeping the house in order and raising my younger brother, Shingo, and me.”

 

“It was a simple life, but a happy one nonetheless. We were never in need and, even though we didn’t always see Dad because of his odd work hours, it was a good life.” Usagi paused for a second. From here on, the story got harder to tell.

 

“That all changed on March 11th of 2011,” Usagi said, pausing briefly when she heard both older girls sharp in draws of breath. They could probably figure out most of the story from here, but once she had started it was hard to stop. She continued after a second, “Like for everyone else living here in Japan, it started out as your average day. Dad had left for work long before we were up. Shingo was up first, like always, and I had to be almost dragged out of bed to make it to class on time.”

 

“The school day progressed like normal. We got out just a bit early, so I went to pick up Shingo to walk him home like we did almost every day. We hadn’t made it maybe a mile or two from the school when the earthquake struck,” Usagi continued, reluctantly pulling out the memories from the back corners of her mind – where she stuffed most of the memories involving the quake.

 

“Most of the events are a bit of a blur after that, but I do remember trying to flee to higher ground before the waves came in. We were unsuccessful. The last time I saw Shingo was when we the waves tore us apart. I was the lucky one. They found me; they never found Shingo,” Usagi muttered, wishing she could pull her legs to her but the stumps wouldn’t provide the normal sensation she longed for.

 

“Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital room almost a month later. I had been in a coma ever since the rescuers had found me by some fishing boats floating in some debris, pinned under another piece of debris. The rescuers weren’t able to remove the debris, unfortunately having to opt for an emergency amputation to get me out,” Usagi continued after a brief pause to go over her memories of the aftermath of the earthquake. She thought she had covered almost everything.

 

“By all accounts, according to the doctors, I should be dead. I’m a living anomaly. I shouldn’t be sitting here being able to have a conversation with you, yet that’s exactly what I’m doing. I missed another month of school on top of everything else after I woke up just trying to recover. Since then, I’ve been struggling to catch back up and understand what’s going on. Haruna-sensei, well, she’s an okay teacher, but her teaching style just doesn’t match me and that is problematic so I have a hard time learning from her,” Usagi confessed, nervously crossing her arms at the thoughts of what had been going on.

 

“Well, thankfully you are still here,” Michiru said, giving her a sad smile.

 

"Why did you never really mention this before? It would have been helpful to have known about this in case something strange happened," Haruka asked after a few minutes of silence.

 

"Because I was afraid of how you would react. You two have been great, honestly," Usagi began as they made a face at her comment, "But the last time I was open about my condition, I ended up being mocked by classmates. I just got used to hiding my condition that I continued to hide because I was still worried about your opinions. And I wanted to earn your respect without you guys knowing about everything."

 

"So, the afternoons you are absent, are they for doctor's appointments?" Haruka asked.

 

"Yeah, I am currently seeing Dr. Setsuna Meioh. She has been absolutely great and I’m slowly getting over all of my issues. It’s a long road, but she is approaching it in a manner that no other doctor did before. And for the first time since the quake I feel like I am actually getting somewhere with my recovery instead of going in circles.” Usagi gave a slight smile at the thought of her favorite doctor.

 

"That's good," Michiru said, giving her a smile.

 

"So..."Usagi began, glancing between the two older girls. So far they had handled it very well, but she couldn't be one hundred percent sure until they said something either positive or negative about her condition.

 

The older girls exchanged a glance, sighing before Michiru spoke for the two of them, "Usagi, we only wish you had told us everything earlier so we could have supported you. Also, it would have given us an explanation as to what happened during the battle with Jadeite. I’m guessing your freezing had something to do with your experience?"

 

Usagi nodded hesitantly before speaking, "Shingo's loss was rather traumatizing. I had to be told to let him go a few times before I would. I think I froze at the thought of being involved so closely with someone else's death, even if he was the enemy."

 

“That’s perfectly understandable, considering everything you went through,” Michiru said, taking one of her free hands with a reassuring squeeze that earned her a tentative smile from Usagi.

 

After a few minutes, the topic changed to slightly more normal one for the group and Usagi finally relaxed somewhat for the first time in the last couple of days.  It looked like everything would be okay after all.

 

* * *

 

The next week and a half passed with a sort of normality to it. Nephrite had sent out a couple of more youmas to try and steal energy, but nothing to write home about. Haruka and Michiru had accepted her condition without a word more after the conversation, just the way Usagi preferred. She had Setsuna to talk to about her issues; she wanted to keep her personal medical issues as separate from everything else as humanly possible.

 

Most evenings revolved around the usual talk about senshi duties, school, and Naru’s growing crush on Masato Sanjouin, which had seemed to have doubled after seeing the man at the contest.

 

They continued to see Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Pluto occasionally at the fights, which had brought up the topic a few times of how they kept they locating them. Haruka seemed to be of the mentality that they were more stalkers than helpers at the time. Usagi knew she had a point, but she couldn’t really bring herself to truly believe that. Though Pluto’s behavior was odd, at best, and weird at others, Tuxedo Kamen had at least given her a semi-reason for his behavior back when this whole mess was starting. Pluto had yet to explain her behavior, which seemed to greatly annoy Luna for reasons unknown.

 

But Usagi and Naru had less and less time to contemplate the odd behavior of their fellow fighters as January grew to a close, leaving them with a little more than a month to prepare for the end of the year exams that were freaking Usagi out greatly, for good reason. The semester had been a hell ride and it was looking like, unless she pulled a miracle out of nowhere, she would be stuck going back to Haruna-sensei the following semester.

 

So, while some of her classmates were fretting about the spring and the search for love, love was the last thing on Usagi’s mind. When, on one afternoon as January grew to a close, her mom informed that she had received a love letter in the mail, it struck her as odd. She wasn’t exactly popular at school and she had lost touch with all but a few of her classmates from her hometown after the earthquake. Who exactly would be sending her a love letter?

 

As she slipped the letter out, she tuned out her mom’s normal babble. It was a simple piece of lined paper, blank on one side, but she could make out some of the kana on the other side. Flipping it over, she noticed it was a fairly average length letter. Scanning it over, she felt her eyebrows climb slowly towards her hairline. Why would _he_ of all people send her a love letter? And, better yet, how the heck did he get her address? This felt way too fishy.

 

Stuffing the letter into her shoulder bag, she bid farewell to her mom and made her way to the office where they kept their one computer. They were attempting to save up for another one, and Usagi was hoping with her new income from the government that this would be sooner rather than later, but it wasn’t exactly easy for them. They had lost so many personal possessions in the tsunami that they still hadn’t been able to fully replace everything due to the cost of certain items and medical bills in general. Of course, there were certain items they would never be able to replace no matter how hard they tried, but that was a give in. She pressed the power button on the computer hard drive and waited it to boot up while texting the others, asking for a Skype chat. She wasn’t sure how plausible that was considering how far Haruka and Michiru had to travel to get back to their apartment, but this was something they needed to address.

 

Thankfully it was a short wait to get the entire group onto Skype. Once the group call began, Usagi held up the letter, explaining it had been dropped in her mailbox earlier that day with the rest of the mail. However, the contents didn’t make sense because there was no way Tuxedo Kamen could have magically gained her contact info after only a few exchanges between him and the girls.

 

“Are you certain you aren’t reading too far into this?” Michiru asked, frowning slightly. It was odd, but there had to be some explanation that made more sense than what Usagi was suggesting. They ignored Haruka’s comment about the other members of their team being very stalker-like.

 

“I actually got the same letter,” Naru admitted, holding up a near identical letter.

 

“This is sounding more and more like a youma plot. Though, it seems odd for Nephrite to revert back to Jadeite’s style of tactics after going his own way for so long,” Michiru admitted after some thought.

 

“Yeah, but Jadeite is dead.  It was all over the news. So, unless we are dealing with a new general out of the blue, maybe Nephrite switched tactics hoping to make more headway?” Usagi suggested. She absent-mindedly tapped her thighs. It would make more sense, but if Jadeite was anything to go by when the generals got desperate, they seemed to resort to all sorts of odd tactics. Challenging them in front of an entire city of viewers in this day and age, while threatening to burn the city to the ground, where every government official can observe you was just flat out stupid.

 

“Well, at least he appears to have some tact, compared to his predecessor,” she could hear Haruka mutter over the connection. She could hear a muffled ‘ow’ and assumed that the older girl had been elbowed by Michiru for the comment, judging by the look Haruka was now shooting her.

 

“So what do we do now? Should we try showing up?” Naru asked after a few minutes of silence.

 

“Seems like the only real course of action. I’m just worried how many other students our age got the letter. You two didn’t get one, correct?” Usagi addressed Haruka and Michiru.

 

“No. Then again, it seems that most people at our school know about our relationship, so he may have not sent the letter for that reason,” Michiru said. She had disappeared off screen – probably to check her mail – for a short bit but now returned.

 

“Or maybe he is just targeting Juuban,” Haruka said.

 

“Either way, we should probably check it out. Why don’t you give us the address listed in the letter and we meet there tomorrow after class instead of at Naru’s,” Michiru suggested.

 

“Sounds like as good of a plan as any,” Usagi admitted, preparing to end the call.

 

“See you tomorrow, then?” she heard Haruka ask.

 

“Yeah, see you then,” Usagi said as she hung up the Skype call. She shut down the computer before heading back to studying. Odd love letters or not, she still had finals to take.

 

* * *

 

The following afternoon, Usagi and Naru wandered around in the mall by themselves, playing a guessing game of who actually sent the letter. Haruka and Michiru had been held up at their school, having gotten into trouble over something neither girl had been willing to talk about over the phone.

 

“Maybe him?” Naru said, pointing at another guy as he walked past.

 

“Nah, too short. He’s taller than that,” Usagi said, waving her hand in dismissal.

 

“For only having seen him a couple of times you sure remember quite a bit about him,” Naru muttered, looking around.

 

“Yeah, well, he left quite an impression,” Usagi muttered, glancing around. Any guy who was willing and crazy enough to risk it all to fight the Dark Kingdom was worth a second glance.

 

“Does someone have a crush?” Naru teased lightly as they began to move into another section of the mall.

 

“What? No! I just mean that the fact he is fighting the enemy without any prompting left an impression, that’s all,” Usagi said, putting her hands up in defense.

 

“I see your point. Do you have any idea why he joined the fight?” Naru asked, bobbing her head in agreement.

 

“No. He is more mysterious than the other unknown member of our group, in some ways. Though, at least with her, we know she’s one of us. Luna doesn’t have a clue who this guy is and I think that really unnerves her,” Usagi said as they settled down on a nearby bench to observe people again.

 

“Because she knows she is supposed to exist but she doesn’t feel like he is supposed to, right?” Naru asked.

 

“Pretty much. From what little I have been able to pry out of Luna, back in the old days there were only the warriors, none of which were male,” Usagi said, glancing around some.

 

“Anyway, I’m wondering when he will show up, if at all," Usagi said after a minute or so of silence. She unfolded her own copy of the letter, double-checking her suspicions. No time was specifically mentioned, just the mall in the late afternoon.

 

"Well, if it is the enemy, it would make more sense for him to show up if this was a trap. If not, well, I think he will still show up. Though, his method of trying to find the warriors is a bit odd, to say the least," Naru said, looking around.

 

"I agree, but you would think he would have been smart enough to specify a specific location," Usagi said, glancing around at the crowd. Still no person in particular looked like he may be Tuxedo Kamen. Though, she did notice that millionaire Naru had been crushing on was window shopping. That seemed a bit odd.

 

She gave Naru a bit of a nudge before pointing at him and saying, "Speaking of crushes, look who’s here."

 

Naru caught sight of who she was pointing at before flushing bright red. Usagi giggled slightly at her friend’s reaction before teasing, "What? Surprised to see him?"

 

"Yeah. Well, he was apparently a bit of a recluse until recently. For him to be spotted at a shopping mall seems a bit odd," Naru admitted, glancing away.

 

"Been doing your research?" Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

"I have a copy of his book," Naru muttered to herself, but Usagi heard her loud and clear. Usagi finally realized what book she had seen her friend buried in lately. Naru had been very careful about hiding it from her, stuffing it in her bag anytime she knew Usagi was around.

 

"And he actually says that in an autobiography?" Usagi asked in surprise.

 

"Not exactly," Naru admitted.

 

"So you did some research!" Usagi exclaimed, making sure to keep her voice on the low side to avoid attracting too much attention.

 

"Maybe," Naru admitted hesitantly.

 

"Well, he's here. Why don't you get him to sign the book?" Usagi suggested.

 

"How do you even know I have the book on me?" Naru asked, flushing slightly.

 

"Naru, you have been carrying it everywhere for the past week, if it’s the book I’m thinking about. I would be shocked if you didn’t have it on you," Usagi pointed out.

 

"That obvious?" Naru muttered after a second of hesitation.

 

"I wouldn't say obvious to anyone else, but you have to remember when we've known each other for as long as we have,  I would notice certain things that others wouldn't," Usagi pointed out.

 

"True," Naru said with a bit of a sigh. She looked over to where Masato was standing before continuing, "I don't know. I don't really want to bother him."

 

"Come on, it doesn't hurt to just ask," Usagi urged.

 

"I guess," Naru said but still didn't stand up.

 

"Look, if you at least go talk to him I'll make you a deal. Somewhere down the road I will do something that I am hesitant to do because you want me to, okay?" Usagi said, trying to give her a slight push.

 

"Promise?" Naru asked after a second of thought.

 

"Promise!" Usagi agreed.

 

Naru pulled a pen out of her bag then finally stood, after taking a deep breath, and made her way over the aforementioned millionaire. Usagi watched her go with a slight smile. She hoped someday she could find her own love, but for now she could encourage her friend to seek opportunities she wasn't personally so sure about quite yet.

 

* * *

 

"I really don't like this," Usagi admitted to Naru a few hours later. There was still no sign of the mystery man that was supposed to be Tuxedo Kamen and the mall was getting ready to shut down.

 

"Maybe it was a practical joke?" Naru suggested. It was the only explanation that made sense at this point.

 

"If it is, it sure is an elaborate one. I mean, sending out letters to the entire female half of our class? He not only had to look up personal information and hand write each letter, but he had to make sure it didn't get anywhere else. It seems a little extreme for him, from what I have seen," Usagi commented, waving her copy of the letter in front of Naru as a reminder.

 

"I agree. It’s the only explanation that I can come up with, though, unless he wanted to meet after the mall closed for some reason. Which is weird, to say the least," Naru said, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

 

"Yeah, well, you probably should see about going home," Usagi said, standing up.

 

"Shouldn't you be saying the same thing about yourself? It is getting pretty late," Naru replied as she stood.

 

"I will in a bit. I just want to make sure I don't see anyone who could possibly be our masked helper," Usagi explained.

 

"Sounds good. Do you know if the others are ever going to show up?" Naru said as they walked out of the mall to the side of the main entrance.

 

"They said they were on their way a while back. I told them we would either meet at the mall or at my apartment if I let them know I left. For now, I’ll just plan to meet them here unless I see something to otherwise suggest I should leave," Usagi decided.

 

"All right. Then I should probably head out if you’re going to be okay," Naru replied, tilting her head in question.

 

"Yeah, I’ll be fine. See you at school tomorrow," Usagi said, waving her off. Naru said her final farewell before heading home.

 

Usagi relaxed against the side of the building as she engaged in another game of people watching. While she had a basic idea of what Tuxedo Kamen looked like out of uniform, it was a vague idea at best. Luna had explained that the same disguise magic that kept others from identifying the senshi in their uniforms, despite the few changes in appearance, seemed to be in use by the man, which only raised Usagi's curiosity even more.

 

Usagi sent another text to the other girls to let them know she was still outside the mall before looking around. So far, there was no sign of anyone who could be their masked man. It was looking more and more like a practical joke – or the work of Nephrite – than anything, but she had to at least stick around until the mall closed.

 

As she stood around for maybe a half hour, she continued to get more fed up with the situation as the minutes ticked past. Waiting for some mystery guy that may or may not show up ,was not what she wanted to do with her evening. She had better things to do with her time.

 

She was just about to leave once and for all when she heard the cracking of the doors. She frowned slightly. The mall was closed, why would it be opening again? It wasn't supposed to open until the following morning. There were no late night events today, she had checked before she had come to the mall. So what the heck was going on? Dodging into a nearby alley, she decided not to risk any trouble and transformed.

 

Making her way back to the door, she found them open again, though the lights were still off. She frowned, hesitating for only the briefest of moments in the edge of the doorway. She really didn't like this whole scenario, but she had to at least see if this was either an enemy or Tuxedo Kamen. She slipped through one of the manual doors with some reluctance, entering the mall just as the lights came back on.

 

As much as she really didn't like this, she had to fulfill her duty. She heard the whir of the escalators turning on and the whishing of a cape. She rolled her eyes in exasperation as she said, "You know, if you wanted to meet me, there are better ways to go about this than this. I almost left because I was fed up with waiting."

 

"Well, thankfully for me you apparently have a high amount of patience," came the deep voice.

 

She frowned, spinning on her heel in the direction of the voice. That definitely wasn't the voice she had come to recognize, which left only one option: Nephrite. She hissed in annoyance, "Just as we figured. Nephrite, show yourself!"

 

"What makes you so sure I am not your masked savior?" the voice echoed off of the marble.

 

"First off, I have only met the guy a couple of times, not enough to actually have a party fall in love with him. Like yes, love no. Second, your voice is all wrong," Usagi retorted.

 

"For someone who isn't in love and has only met a man a few times, you sure remember quite a few details. I would be less surprised if you actually were in love with him," came the voice. The man finally materialized in the air a few feet in front of her. He was taller than Jadeite and had dark brown hair. Actually, he bore some resemblance to the millionaire who Naru was crushing on, she realized with a frown. She hoped for both her and Naru's sakes it was just a coincidence. Unfortunately, knowing her luck, it was anything but.

 

"Why I remember those details is none of your business!" Usagi snapped back in annoyance. Okay, maybe she did have a bit of a crush on him now that she thought about it, but she wasn't going to admit it to anyone.

 

"Whatever. I am here to fight you, not argue with you over your personal feelings toward an ally," Nephrite said, moving into a stance she didn't recognize.

 

She reached up for her tiara automatically but didn't get a chance to launch her attack as a lion – of all things – materialized out of thin air. Even though she knew it was most likely just a youma, that didn't make the situation any better as she moved to dodge the incoming attack. She could really use the help of the older senshi right about now.

 

Assistance came a few minutes later but in the ironic form of the actual Tuxedo Kamen deciding to make his own presence known. She drew a deep breath as he tried to distract the youma, then she reached up for her tiara. Hoping the man could keep him distracted long enough, she powered up her own attack. Thankfully, it did dust the youma which was admittedly a bit unusual these days.

 

She never got a chance to properly thank him as Nephrite launched another youma to attack. Chasing them into a nearby elevator, it made her wish for her senshi companions more and more. She knew the last text had said they weren't too far out, so they had better have a good excuse for not arriving yet.

 

She was drawn out of her thoughts as she heard Nephrite's voice doing the echoing thing again. She had missed most of the message but caught the tail end of him telling them they had apparently fallen for some trap. Great; that was just great.

 

When she felt the elevator start going up, she let out a bit of a yelp. Tuxedo Kamen didn't spare her a glance, too engrossed in trying to find a way out of the elevator.

 

Finding the hatch on the top of the elevator took only a couple of minutes. In the meantime, a brief moment of him being startled over something he refused to elaborate upon made her wonder about how much he might be aware of after today, and what actually it felt like with her legs. Haruka hadn't mentioned anything seeming to be odd after the battle with Jadeite, but then again there seemed to be some sort of unspoken truce between the three of them that they would speak about such issues only when the associated party felt most comfortable.

 

It was part of the reason that, even though Usagi was curious about Haruka and Michiru's relationship, she had never pushed for actual details. And it was part of the reason why she thought they never pushed about certain other details of her life before some of it had come out the other day – like why she missed a meeting once a week.

 

For now, she just ignored the look she was getting, opting to ask a question instead, "So what now? We're out of the death trap, at least, but we still aren't exactly safe yet."

 

"There should be a ledge coming up at the top just before the elevator begins its journey downward. We're going to have jump for it since the top of the elevator won't be in perfect alignment with it, but it’s the only option we have," he said, making motion towards the top of the dark shaft.

 

She tried squinting at it to see if she could see what ledge he meant. She could see something was up there but nothing definite; she guessed she would have to put some faith in the man.

 

The elevator reached the top of the shaft within a couple of minutes. Not sure how much springing power her legs would possess, she tried to put as much power into them as possible. Falling a bit short of the ledge, she was more than relieved when Tuxedo Kamen managed to catch her.

 

"Easy. I've got you," he said, helping her up a bit so she had a better grip.

 

There was a brief silence as took in the situation before asking, "Do you think you could reach the ledge if you tried swinging yourself a bit?"

 

"I'm not really sure if I can do that," Usagi said, frowning as she looked at the ledge. If she tried swinging herself up, she may just throw both of them off balance and send them to their deaths. However, if she could reach the others she wouldn't have to worry about the swinging. Reluctantly, she shifted her weight so she had a better grip with her left arm.

 

"What are you doing?" Tuxedo Kamen asked as she maneuvered to get her wrist watch open. Thanking Luna's own paranoia and her insistence on having some other form of communication than their cell phones, she opened it and pressed the button that would call Neptune.

 

As soon as the other girl answered, she said, "Where are you? I need you now!"

 

"We've just arrived at the mall," came Michiru's response. She could hear Haruka grumbling in the background.

 

"Yeah, well, hurry up! I'm kind of dangling here!" Usagi snapped, her worry for their safety coming through.

 

She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay hanging there, and then there was the matter of her legs. Sure, they were snapped in tight, but she was pretty sure they weren't used to being pulled by gravity this much, so she was worried about them becoming unsnapped.

 

"Where are you exactly?" Michiru said frowning slightly.

 

"At the top ledge of the third elevator shaft," Usagi replied.

 

"Give us a couple of minutes and we will be there to get you," Michiru assured before closing the connection.

 

"It better be just a couple of minutes," Usagi grumbled as she closed her own communicator. Carefully maneuvering so she could get a better grip on Tuxedo Kamen, the brief silence was broken by him asking, "Why weren't they with you in the first place?"

 

"They had to stay after class for some reason – wouldn't say why when I asked. They kept telling me earlier they would be here shortly but they just got here. At least they are getting here now, I guess," Usagi sighed. She understood that things came up but this had been bordering on ridiculous.

 

Any further conversation was cut off by the door to the shaft opening. Usagi let out a sigh of relief when she felt them being pulled up. She felt like nearly kissing the ground; that was one experience she hoped to never repeat.

 

Tuxedo Kamen didn't give them much time, taking off for parts unknown as soon as he was safely on the ledge. Usagi wasn't exactly happy about the events leading up to it, but at least everything would hopefully be okay now.

_Luna was not happy_ _about_ _the entire thing. While she seemed_ _glad_ _that I was starting to take some responsibility_ _,_ _she was far from pleased about Haruka and Michiru's disappearing act today._

_Not to say I am exactly pleased about the whole thing_ _personally,_ _but at least they showed up_ _,_ _right? I may have been able to get up on the ledge on my own but it was so risky._

_Anyway_ _,_ _I hope they_ _will be_ _more careful about_ _whatever_ _got them in trouble in the future._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So that concludes chapter 11 at long last. Chapter 12 will be coming to you in February. To tide you over until then here's the preview (and also the reason this chapter didn't go up on Tuesday):
> 
> “He actually invited you out to something,” came Usagi’s exclamation a couple of days later on the walk from school.
> 
> “Uh huh. He said that he was looking for someone to accompany him to it and asked if I would join him,” Naru said giving a bit of a grin.
> 
> “Great everyone has an invite but me,” Usagi said slightly more in exasperation than in jealousy.
> 
> “Why are you interested anyway? Parties were never really your thing. And I wouldn’t think Luna would be that interested in some sort of fancy party,” Naru said raising an eyebrow.
> 
> “Yeah well Luna wants me to go because she is wondering if the mysterious royal treasure of the D Family is somehow connected to the crystal she has mentioned before but I don’t see how I could get in. I’m seriously tempted to tell Luna to shove it for once and let Haruka and Michiru handle it. I mean why the heck would an ancient crystal from such a far off place be with a royal family from a small country of all places?” Usagi said after a second.
> 
> “Maybe the queen sent it their for safe keeping when the kingdom fell?” Naru suggested.
> 
> “The D kingdom maybe old but I don’t think they are that old,” Usagi said 
> 
> “How are Haruka and Michiru getting in anyway?” Naru said going back to something that Usagi had glanced over in passing.
> 
> “I think Michiru’s agent hooked them up with some playing time during the party. Or something like that,” Usagi said trying to remember the explanation she had been given about that. 
> 
> “So you’re the lone one out then?” Naru asked.
> 
> “Pretty much. Unless Luna manages to pull something out of blue air. Which after she has done in the last month and a half I wouldn’t put it past her to find someway to get me into the ball. But she isn’t exactly a miracle worker. Even if we got the disguise, their is so many things we would be lacking,” Usagi said after a couple of minutes.
> 
> That's it for now! See you in February!


	12. Chapter 12: Back to the Beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: First off I am so sorry for my two week hiatus turning into something much more. Apparently when I came out of my forced break my muses decided they would rather spend three weeks rampaging the Pokemon fandom. They finally have seemed to calmed down about that and the story is in full swing. Chapter 20 is currently being worked on but is almost finished so I swear no two month break between chapters this time. 
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> Fun factoid of the day this was originally going to be chapter 13 however I realize that 12 and13 would work much nicer reversed. Hence why you are getting this now and not next week.
> 
> Thank you time! To AzarathMetrionZ (hope you had a good birthday, sorry for missing it, consider this a belated birthday present), LoveInTheBattleField, Light-Sakura, Ladygoddess8 (I should hopefully have those photos to you by the time I publish this), Ash Devil Sadist (thank you so much for checking the story out! I love your fic, the New Order keep it up), Kaylen Cooper, sockprincess, and Lucyole for the reviews. To Elza Eldaniella 1, FlashDevil, Raikim4never, Zuzian, gohan8k, LiveandLearn2, Kaylen Cooper, Ash Devil Sadist, Shabondy, AnjuAddams, LazzzyCat, and Angel-Rias for the favorites. To sapientia stulti, Zuzian, aZnNeRd09, Chuggycat, Kuroppoi Kitsune, xSilversun, Angel-Rias, thebrute7, Jessem, Kaylen Cooper, RubyChimera, sockprincess, trish1573, ElvinaPotter, and Rebelgirl01 for the follows. To peachfarie and aliasmijak (I am aware of the problem, I am trying to work on it, muses aren’t being the most cooperative though) on AO3 for the comments and the kudos! To Readera (hello there) for the bookmark also on AO3. And of course a thank you to my anon readers
> 
> Also it’s hard to believe but we’ve now hit over 7,500 hits on FF.net and 3000 hits on AO3. You guys should have seen my face when I saw the hit count as I was writing up the AN for this chapter. Did I mention how much I love you guys and your outstanding patience for me? Because I do.  
> Also to my readers you all get cookies for coming back and reading the story while it was on hiatus. I love you guys for continuing to show love to the story. I keep writing because you all make my day. 
> 
> As mentioned in my last AN. This last delay was caused by the wait for getting the chapter back. I am actually all the way up to Chapter 19. So how fast the chapters get to you right now completely depends on my beta, juliemarie12. Hopefully since school is out for the summer the turnaround time will start to normalize.
> 
> Anyways enough of my blathering. Please enjoy after a long awaited arrival, chapter 12!

Chapter 12

Back to the Beach

_Dear Shingo,_

_I never thought in a million years I would go anywhere near the ocean again after the earthquake. However, when Michiru suggested a beach trip, it brought up more fond memories than bad ones, so I agreed to return to go with some reluctance. I thought maybe being around the ocean would help me with my fear, you know? Well, this trip turned out to have a lot more eventful than just visiting the ocean..._

Usagi arrived at Naru's house in the late afternoon a few days after the incident at the mall, catching the tail end of a conversation between, she assumed, Michiru and Naru, "-and it is supposed to have its own private beach. Though, considering the price we have no idea how big the beach actually is."

"It sounds wonderful," she heard Naru respond.

Usagi frowned at the description, wondering why they were talking about the beach, as she cracked the door open to Naru's room and drew the other girls’ attention. She forced the frown away, giving them a tentative smile and saying, "Hey, guys! What’s going on?"

"We were thinking about heading down to the beach for the weekend to have some time off from all the craziness. We figured it would be a nice break from the normal, mundane life in Tokyo," Michiru explained.

"Really, the beach, huh?" Usagi asked, shifting a bit in nervousness. She had been avoiding the beach like it was some contagious disease ever since the earthquake. The sea only brought back bad memories nowadays.

"Yes. What do you think? Would you two like to come? We already rented a couple of rooms at one of the nearby pensions," Michiru said, giving her a bright smile.

"Well, I – uh," Usagi began, not really sure how to respond to the question. She would probably have to return to the beach at some point in her life, but was she really ready to now? She thought about it before answering, "I’ll have to ask my parents first and then, if they say I may come, I'll come if I can stay on the beach.”

"Half the fun of going to the beach is swimming," Michiru said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess I can give it a try but no guarantee," Usagi agreed somewhat reluctantly. The therapy had been helping so far and with the others there she might be able to handle going in the sea for the first time since everything had happened. Still, going in the sea was different than going in a simple pool, so it was hard to say.

That seemed to satisfy the other girls, but she noticed Naru’s skeptical look. Naru, sensing that she was going to back out of it without asking her parents, said, “Make sure to ask your Mom when you get home. Remember the deal we made? Consider this me holding you responsible for your end of it.”

* * *

It was quite a bit of a bus ride to get to the area where they would be spending the next few days. As they stepped out of the bus and took their first view of the beach and the surrounding ocean, Usagi had to admit that she had forgotten how beautiful the beach could be at times – even if the ocean made her feel incredibly nervous. While the others cooed over the view, she kept close to the bus shelter, choosing not to get a better look. Finally, Michiru pulled out a map of the way to the house.

The trip to their pension was mostly uneventful. They met a local girl who had been out picking various plants and who was more than happy to help them find the hotel. At first glance, the area seemed nice as they wandered out of the forest surrounding the nearby cliffs into a clearing.

Usagi froze in her steps when she saw the house. When she had agreed to come on this trip she had been under the impression that the house would be right next to the ocean, not perched on a cliff. She began backing away from it quickly, drawing the attention of the other girls.

"Usagi?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.

"I think I may just go spend the night at the bus station," Usagi muttered, continuing to back up slowly.

"Usagi-" Michiru began, only to be interrupted.

"I don't do heights. I don't do water really either. A house on a cliff overhanging an ocean is not my idea of a good place to stay," Usagi said, eyeing the house warily.

"The house has been standing here for years on end without every receiving any damage. I can assure you that you will be perfectly fine," a new voice declared, causing Usagi to nearly jump five feet in the air. An older man walked out into the clearing and took the hand of the little girl who had led them there.

Usagi sighed and replied, "It’s nothing against you personally, sir. I just have some underlying issues with heights. I’m sure your house is perfectly normal. However-"

"Usagi," Naru interjected.

"Yes, Naru," Usagi said, turning to her long time friend.

"Just try it once. Remember the other reason you came here? Consider it part of the challenge. Besides, I am not letting you back out of our deal this easily. I’m holding you to that part of the bargain," Naru replied, giving her friend a reassuring smile.

Usagi took another look at the house, thought about having to spend the night at the cold empty bus stop, and finally caved. She sighed, "All right, but I want a room on the first floor if at all possible."

"We do have a room available. I will make sure to give you that key," the old man agreed, giving her a smile. He led them into the house, Usagi reluctantly trailing the group. She knew she had to keep her promise to Naru; that didn’t mean she had to like it.

* * *

The next morning the girls went down to the beach. It was a small beach, but at least it was private. Usagi had come down with some help from Haruka and Michiru. She had refused to talk about what had caused the issues of the previous night and was looking at the ocean with a sense of trepidation. While the older girls were already in the water enjoying the ocean, Usagi settled down on the beach, preferring to watch for the moment. She was considering going in later but was still nervous to enter the moving water. She was brought out of her thoughts by a yell.

"Come on in, Usagi! The water's great!" Haruka called.

Usagi stood at the water line, toying with it in thought. She didn't want to tell them everything but they had to know eventually, right? And if she wanted to get over it she would have to go back in eventually. She took a deep breath before taking a few steps in until a light wave hitting her feet made her freeze.  Quickly backing up onto completely dry sand, she earned strange looks from the other girls.

"Give me a second," Usagi called to them. She took another deep breath before going up to her ankles in the water. However, once she got that far she couldn't convince herself to go any further in or turn back.

"Usagi?" Michiru asked, concerned.

"I'm okay. Just give me a few minutes, okay?" Usagi replied, trying to give them a reassuring grin.

"If you’re sure," Michiru called back, exchanging a glance with Haruka who just shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

Usagi took yet another deep breath before attempting to walk a bit further. She made it to the water halfway up her shins before she stopped again. Admittedly, she had made it further in on this trip than she had ever imagined going back into the ocean after the quake. It seemed Sestuna's suggestions were actually working.

"Usagi?" she heard Naru call from behind, just now coming out to join them. Her face was a mixture of awe and shock, knowing just how big it was to see Usagi back in the ocean.

"Look at me. I'm in the ocean," Usagi said, giving her a bright smile.

"I can see that. That's great!" Naru exclaimed, giving her a smile.

Naru noticed the older girls exchanging a confused glance but choosing not to say anything. She stepped into the ocean, coming up to Usagi's side before she turned to her and asked, "Do you want to lead me in a bit further?"

"I guess?" Usagi answered hesitantly, taking the extended hands of Naru who walked the blonde slightly further into the ocean until she could start feel the tingling of the waves hitting the bottom of her legs.

"How are you doing?" Naru asked.

"Okay. Just leave me here for now, okay? I'll come in further if I want to," Usagi said, giving her a smile.

Naru raised an eyebrow and said, "If you’re sure?"

At Usagi's nod, she left her to stand there and headed deeper to Haruka and Michiru. Usagi stood there for a few minutes before returning to the shore and taking a seat on the beach towel she and the others had brought down. It was not long before she noticed that Michiru had left Naru and Haruka in the deep water and was approaching her. She gave the older girl a tentative smile. Michiru took a seat next to her before asking, "Are you all right? You have been on edge ever since we arrived last night."

"Yeah. I haven't actually been back to the ocean since the quake two years ago." Usagi admitted, pausing for a second before continuing, "It actually feels nice to be back in the water again. I forgot how much I missed it."

"You used to go swimming in the ocean?" Michiru asked.

"Before the quake, yes. Since then, not so much." Usagi muttered before changing the topic, "Anyway, don't let my deciding to stay on dry land keep you out of the water. I'll come back in if I feel like it."

Michiru raised an eyebrow before asking, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I’ll be fine," Usagi assured, waving the older girl off. Michiru gave her one last glance before standing up and returning to the water.

* * *

After a couple more hours of working with her fear of water, Usagi finally excused herself, saying she was headed back up to the pension. She thought her first day back at the beach had gone extremely well, all things considered.

Truth be told, she had enough of the ocean in one day to last her a year, but since they were supposed to remain until Monday morning and it was only Saturday afternoon she would probably end up at the beach again before the trip was over.

In spite of the difficulty she had faced reaching the beach, she managed to make it back to the pension without a problem. She waved politely at one of the workers as she began to make her way back to her room. Before she went elsewhere, she figured she probably needed to at least clean her legs of the salt water. However, she ended up sidetracked when she heard the voice of the old man and the young girl from yesterday.

“I know you are tired of it but, Sakiko, you really need to keep practicing so you can eventually learn to control your powers without my help,” she heard him say.

“What difference does it make when they only are active when I’m in a trance? It’s not like they are harmful for anyone unless you are putting me to sleep again. I’ve heard the servants talk about a strange specter. I’m not deaf, Dad,” the little girl asked.

“One day your powers will be so great that they will activate with or without a trance. You need to learn so you are prepared for that day when it comes. And it will, it is just a matter of time,” he explained.

“All right, Dad,” she reluctantly complied. Usagi.heard their voices diminish as they moved away from her. Though curious and suspicious in her own right, she decided not to chase after them for answers, but it did leave her wondering about strange abilities. She seriously wondered what kind of child would be so powerful that she would have to be trained from such a young age. Was it possible they were somehow connected to the Dark Kingdom? They seemed perfectly normal, but then again Luna was always warning them to be on their toes.

“Great, Luna’s paranoia is rubbing off on me,” Usagi muttered to herself.

* * *

"Usagi, what was going on today?" Michiru asked as they relaxed in the dining room, just having finished dinner.

"Today was my first time in the ocean since the earthquake. Up until today, I had been too terrified to go anywhere near the ocean, let alone in it. I probably wouldn’t have even considered coming back to the ocean anytime soon if it hadn’t been for my promise to Naru and you two," Usagi admitted to the others.

"So the quake caused you to have a fear of the ocean?" Haruka said after a second.

"It was more than that. For the past year and a half I couldn't even get in sitting water. In order to shower or get clean I either had to use a handheld shower head or be standing. Sestuna has been working on getting me over the fear slowly but surely, but this is the biggest jump I’ve taken so far," Usagi answered, taking a sip of the tea.

She paused for a second to think about the events that had occurred before continuing, “Before I started having the appointments with Setsuna, every time I went into the water brought the day of the earthquake rushing back. I know it sounds silly but the water, especially moving water, made me think of the tsunami. What had happened, losing Shingo, and nearly dying myself.

“I actually nearly had a panic attack when I fell in the water at the photo contest last month. If I hadn’t already worked with Meioh-san then I can say that I would have had a panic attack, no ifs about it. Before Meioh-san came along, I never imagined getting back in the water again at all – forget going back into the ocean,” Usagi explained.

“That’s a fairly big improvement considering you have been only seeing her for a couple of weeks now,” Michiru observed, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Yeah, that is true, but I kind of wish I didn’t have this fear or that I had to face it,” Usagi said after a moment of silence. She let the unsaid ‘I wish I had never been involved in that earthquake at all’ hang in the air.

“Maybe someday down the road it will no longer be much of a fear,” Haruka helpfully suggested.

“Doubtful that will ever come into being, but it would be nice,” Usagi said in response.

“You know that you don’t have to come back down to the ocean tomorrow if you don’t feel like it,” Michiru stated after a few minutes of silence.

“I know, but I probably will anyway. I actually had forgotten how much I had liked going in the ocean before the quake. Today brought back some of my more positive memories of the ocean. I’m hoping another day at the water may bring some more and help with my fear,” Usagi said, having thought about it already.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Usagi stood up and stretched some before saying, “Anyway, I am pretty tired from today. I’m going to go ahead and head to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Getting a chorus of good nights from behind her, she departed the living room and headed back to her temporary room.

* * *

The next day, the girls returned to the beach. Usagi was looking at the ocean with the same sense of trepidation that she had felt the day before.

"Usagi?" Michiru asked.

"Give me a second, okay? I’m not so sure if I want to go in the water quite yet," Usagi said nervously.

Haruka frowned and Michiru looked like she was about to say something but was stopped by a simple head shake from Naru. Both older girls exchanged a glance before Michiru spoke, "All right, if you need us, we’ll stay within sight. Just wave."

"Will do," Usagi said, giving them a reassuring smile. Both girls headed back into the ocean, Naru gave her a questioning glance to which Usagi just gave a simple head shake to as well. Naru shrugged her shoulders before following the other girls into the water.

Usagi settled down on a beach towel to relax and watch the others. Maybe she would try getting into the ocean again later.

Meanwhile, out of earshot Naru was telling both girls not to push it, "Sestuna said that she will have good days and bad ones. I'm shocked that she let me bring her that much into the ocean yesterday. She just might not feel like going in today. If she does, just let her come in on her own."

"So today is one of her bad days?" Haruka asked.

"Looks like it. I wish she would take advantage of being around water again to go back into it further, but that’s her decision," Naru admitted.

Back on the dry sand, Usagi was engrossed in a psychological debate. She had honestly realized how much she had missed the ocean when she had gone into it the day before, but she was not hundred percent sure if she could find the same bravery to repeat the performance today.

She sat on the beach for about 30 minutes, watching the others enjoy the ocean, before she stood up, taking a deep breath. If she could go in the water the day before, she could do it again. So, focused on marching to the water's edge, she never noticed that she had drawn her friends’ attention again.

She walked about to the same depth she had made it with Naru before coming to a stop. Another deep breath and Usagi decided to take the plunge again. She remembered seeing somewhere that sometimes the best way to overcome a fear was direct immersion. Taking a couple of slow, deep breaths and reminding herself that her friends were only a few yards off shore, she sat down in the water, literally.

She lasted maybe five seconds before she shot back up to her feet. Well, that had gone a bit better than she had hoped, she admitted to herself. She now had the full attention of the other girls and it looked like Michiru was about to make her way back over. Usagi gave them a smile before saying, "I’m fine. Just trying something!"

Haruka and Naru exchanged glances but did not yell back. Usagi ignored Michiru, who was beginning to make her way back towards her, as she took several more deep breaths and attempted to sit again. This time she made it a full minute before her fear won out over her stubbornness.

By this point Michiru had made her way back and was eyeing her with some concern. Usagi gave her a reassuring smile before saying, "I really am fine. I just wanted to try something a bit more."

"Are you sure you are going about this the right way?" Michiru asked.

"Honestly?" Usagi said, giving her a look. "Not a clue. But I remember reading somewhere that sometime the best way to get over a fear it to expose someone to it. So I am hoping by exposing myself more and more to the ocean I will have mostly conquered the fear before the trip's end."

"I might be able to help you with a few different tricks than just sitting on the floor, if you are willing to try," Michiru offered.

"Yeah, sure. I guess," Usagi agreed.

"Would you be willing to try and floating on the water?" Michiru asked.

"I-I guess," Usagi said after a second of hesitation. It could not hurt to try at least, right?

“All right, just follow my instructions and we’ll see what we can do,” Michiru said, giving her a reassuring smile.

* * *

 "Did you guys hear the ghost last night?" Naru asked the evening after Usagi and Michiru's swimming adventure.

"No, I was flat out asleep as soon as I hit the bed, and you three know I went to bed pretty early last night," Usagi admitted, wondering what her friend was referring to. She turned to the other girls, asking, "What about you?"

"We were too busy with _other_ activities to notice anything strange–" Haruka began.

"So what is this about a ghost?" Michiru said, cutting off any chance to question Haruka on the meaning behind the words.

"Well, I heard this loud crash last night and when I went to see what was going on there was this weird floating figure that was freaking out the workers. I would have gotten you guys but it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared," Naru admitted.

"You don't think the Dark Kingdom decided to target here of all places?" Usagi questioned. It seemed highly unlikely but she was starting to learn to expect the unexpected with the Dark Kingdom's minions. And that odd conversation she had overheard was still recent enough that she wondered if they had anything to do with this or the Dark Kingdom.

Luna was the first to speak, "It does not sound like anything I have ever heard of the Dark Kingdom doing before, admittedly, but they are capable of doing things I do not fully grasp myself. So, it could be them, but it is unlikely. This is out of their usual range of attack."

"Maybe we should stay up and see if it appears again," Michiru suggested, ignoring Haruka's grumbling.

"Sounds like a good idea," Luna said nodding her head in agreement.

* * *

 A few hours later, the group gathered on the steps of the foyer again. Usagi was the sleepiest of the entire group, attempting to fight off the urge to go to bed. Today had been extremely exhausting for a day where she hadn't done much other than sit and float in the water. Maybe she was more mentally exhausted than physically? She couldn’t honestly tell as she started dozing on someone's shoulder.

She was brought out of her half-asleep state by Naru's yelp, "There it is!"

Usagi sat up straight while Haruka and Michiru shot to their feet immediately. Sure enough, there in the middle of the room was some sort of strange purple colored specter floating around, causing other objects to float as it went. She turned to Luna and said, "Uh, Luna, does that give off any indication of belonging to the Dark Kingdom?"

"No. Which means it is something else entirely." Luna said with a frown.

" _Great. What do we do now?"_ Usagi drawled sarcastically. What the hell was it then? And, better yet, how were they supposed to get rid of it? They were no exorcists and she doubted the house had any or else the specter probably would not be appearing.

"Transform now, we will figure out how to get rid of it after that," Luna commanded the girls.

Usagi went first, hoping that none of the house’s occupants were watching, and said, "Moon Prism Power Make Up!"

Haruka and Michiru followed suit shortly after. As the power faded, she noticed that the ghost was still attempting to wreak destruction simply by of moving around the room in a circular pattern.

Haruka was the first to power up her attack, aiming the ball at the current location at the ghost as she said, "Spiral Buster!"

The ball just passed right through the specter. Great, just great. If the Haruka’s energy based attacks could not do anything to the ghost, she doubted Michiru’s or her tiara would either. Turning to the cat as she dodged the specter as it swooped in again she said, “Lunaaa, do something!”

“I will, just give me a minute,” the cat’s responded as she observed the specter.

“Well, make it quick. I would rather not find out what happens if it hits us,” she replied.

“I may have a solution but-” Luna began only to be interrupted by Haruka saying, “Just do it.”

“If you are so insistent then fine; Naru, find a hiding place until otherwise told. Uranus, Neptune, I want you two to look for the possible source of the energy. Look for a faintly glowing object or person. Depending on which it is either destroy it or bring them to me. Moon, we are going to try a couple of tricks to either get rid of it ourselves or distract it until Uranus and Neptune can find the source. Understood?” Luna instructed.

As the girls scattered on Luna’s command, Usagi asked, “So how exactly am I supposed to pull this off? My tiara does nothing and I seriously doubt I can keep it distracted for very long with a weapon that passes straight through it.”

Luna’s only response was to do a familiar back flip. This time a compact mirror came out. It looked like an everyday compact mirror but the design on the top resembled the one on her locket.

“Technically you aren’t supposed to receive this until you have had further training but I feel the situation calls for it,” Luna explained, placing the mirror at her feet.

“So what does it do, exactly?” Usagi asked, using another dodge as a chance to pick up the mirror.

“Essentially it is a more powerful healing item than your tiara. However, unlike your tiara – which can both destroy and heal depending on the situation – the crescent mirror is for only healing. Normally you wouldn’t even consider using this until you have almost mastered the tiara, but as I said before the situation calls for other methods,” Luna explained.

“Okay, enough lecturing about how I am technically not ready to use this. How _do_ I use it?” Usagi asked, turning to face the specter.

“Open it, point it at the specter, and say ‘Moon Healing Escalation’,” Luna said.

Flipping open the top like asked, she attempted to point the small mirror at the specter as she said, “Moon Healing Escalation!”

She blinked in surprise at the golden light that admitted from mirror and began shining on the specter. It proceeded to do nothing to it as the light eventually faded while the specter remained in position, appearing no worse for wear than before the attack. In fact, the only thing it appeared to have done is draw its attention to the two.

“Uh, Luna? What now?” Usagi asked, looking at the specter.

“Just alternate between your tiara and the mirror for now until Uranus and Neptune find the source. Consider it target practice,” Luna replied.

“Great, I’m basically the distraction then,” Usagi grumbled slightly as she removed her tiara, none the less tossing it at the specter. She was about to try the mirror again when the specter came swooping in, causing her to drop it in her hurry to dodge.

She was seriously considering finding where Naru was hiding and joining her, Luna’s order be damned, when Haruka and Michiru finally returned with the family that owned the pension in tow.

“Please tell me you have a solution because Luna’s suggestion didn’t work,” Usagi said, turning toward the two hopefully.

“Well, kind of. The kid here was under hypnosis via dear old dad here and conjured the specter by accident. According to them it should have dissipated the minute the trance broke,” Haruka answered.

“Well that’s just great. Now what?” Usagi asked.

Luna turned to the little girl, frowning slightly and inquiring, “Are you saying you conjure this up by accident?”

It wasn’t the girl but rather her father who said, “Our family tends to contain some powerful psychics. Sakiko was born with the potential to become one of the most powerful psychics ever seen in our family. I have been attempting to teach her to control her abilities that are slowly beginning to awaken. However, we do run into some trouble with them in spite of them mostly being dormant at the moment. This happens to be one of them. Though, it has always dissipated when she is snapped out of her training trances before. I am not sure why it still remains.”

“Is it possible she is still projecting something strong enough that the specter continues to remain here?” Luna questioned.

“It is certainly possible but it would be a first,” he admitted as the group as a whole ducked again as the specter swooped in. Having gotten bored with throwing random objects around the room and circling it, it had unfortunately focused its attention back on them.

“Luna, please tell me you know how to deal with psychic projections because I am not in the mood to be practicing dance moves,” Usagi said, ducking yet again as the specter came back around.

“Unfortunately not in this case; this is something she must work out on her own.  Only once she’s sorted out her emotions and figured out what is causing the specter to appear will it disappear,” Luna replied, much to the others’ annoyance.

“Well, that’s just wonderful,” Usagi heard Haruka mutter to herself. Obviously they were also getting tired of this troublesome situation.

“Isn’t there something you can do?” Usagi asked the cat.

Luna frowned in concentration. After a few seconds she spoke addressed Sakiko directly, “What is the emotion you usually feel the most when entering the trances and whom is it usually directed at?”

Sakiko’s response was too low for any human ears to hear it, but Luna apparently was able to still hear before asking, “Well, then what is the emotion you usually associate with the opposite of it?”

There was a second of silence before Sakiko responded with, “Happiness?”

“Seems good,” Luna said bobbing her head in response before continuing, “I want you to focus solely on that emotion and try to push out all the other emotions you are feeling right now. Just focus on trying to project that. Understood, Sakiko?”

“I guess,” she said after a second.

“Good girl. Moon, Uranus, Neptune, your job right now is to distract the projection as much as possible while Sakiko tries to take care of it,” Luna said, turning her attention to the three senshi who had pretty much been left alone to this point.

“Not sure how much we can actually do,” Usagi heard Haruka mutter as she began powering up another Spiral Buster and Neptune powered up her own attack, along with Usagi nevertheless. The attacks didn’t really do anything to the psychic projection but, as Usagi had discovered earlier with the tiara and mirror, apparently provided great distractions.

Finally, though, the specter did start to fade out, much to everyone’s relief, until it popped out of existence. The only evidence that it had been there were the items tossed about the room and the transformed senshi. After a brief period of silence the father spoke, “Thank you for your help. I am not sure what we would have done if you hadn’t been here.”

“Yes, about that. Sir, with all due respect, your training is not doing the trick. You need someone who specializes in training young, powerful psychics. Your intentions are good but you will never be able to pull it off,” Luna addressed him with a slight frown.

“What do you suggest we do? I’m assuming you’re not a psychic or some spirit trapped in a cat body if you are not offering to help us,” he said, frowning also.

“This is not my area of expertise. Besides, it has been years since I worked with someone Sakiko’s age in any sort of training. I am not the best person to help your daughter, but there are those out there that can. You just need to seek them out,” Luna reprimanded.

“I understand. It is just a bit hard when your only source of income is an old, rundown house like this that rarely gets used by the people coming to visit the ocean,” he said, scratching his head.

He left out the unspoken part of the obvious: lack of communication with the outside world. While the girls had their cell phones, the reception was far from great. Usagi hadn’t seen much in the way of high-tech gadgets when exploring the house the day before either. However, that may have had something to do with Sakiko’s volatile powers.

“So no more being hypnotized?” Sakiko asked hopefully.

Her father chuckled slightly before replying, “No. No more hypnotization for now.”

“Yay!” Sakiko shouted happily at that announcement, earning some chuckled amusement from the room’s other occupants.

_After the hypnotizing ended, until her father could find her a proper trainer, things calmed down for the most part. The rest of the trip was pretty normal and quiet. Sakiko hung out with us some on the beach the day after the incident with her projection. She is a sweet if shy girl. I hope her father can find her someone to teach her how to use her abilities in a way better than his method._

_I did go back into the ocean for a couple of hours on our last day here before we left. I still am nervous around water but am definitely improving. It was interesting. I think if someone told me two months ago that I would be going anywhere near the ocean again, I would probably have laughed my head off. But look at me now; thanks to Sestuna and partly due to a cat – of all things – I am not only doing better but am feeling the happiest I have in a long time._

_It was a fun distraction from school while it lasted, but finals are only a few weeks away and my future with it. I’m beginning to get nervous about it and what lies with it as the clock counts down to March._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So that's a wrap for chapter 12. All near 6,000 words of it! Hope you enjoyed it and thought it was worth the break. Here's a preview for chapter 13:
> 
> After the conversation of the day before, it was no surprise when Luna showed up the following afternoon carrying an envelope in her mouth, making Naru start laughing. Usagi threw a half-hearted glare at her long time friend while Haruka and Michiru watched the exchange with half-amused, half-confused expressions.
> 
> Luna paid no mind to Naru, dropping the envelope straight into Usagi’s lap. The cat settled down onto her usual pillow as Usagi pulled out the contents that confirmed her suspicion. She turned to the cat, a mix of exasperated and impressed, and said, “Do I even want to know how you managed to pull this one off?”
> 
> “Inose-sama,” Luna responded.
> 
> “That makes sense. I-wait! You’re saying he actually knows our real identities?” Usagi said as the implication of the documentation and Luna’s answer caught up with her.
> 
> “He knows all of yours,” Luna admitted after a brief pause.
> 
> “WHAT – Whoa, hold on – You can’t be serious,” the three different responses overlapped.
> 
> Luna winced slightly at the volume, but once they had stopped she spoke again, “Look, it was a necessity, mainly for reasons like these. Inose-sama said and I had to agree that, for certain reasons, it was best that the higher ups be aware of your identities. This may or may not be the last time you have to infiltrate something that you would normally not have clearance for. With him being aware of the identities, he can create the proper paperwork and documentation for you to get in to certain areas that you, as normal teenage girls, would be not allowed into.”
> 
> “But what if we need something where our real life identities are not the best to go with?” Michiru questioned with a frown.
> 
> “We have discussed that some and we will get to those crossroads if need be,” Luna answered. When that didn’t seem to calm the girl’s nerves anymore she continued, “If it makes you three feel any better, only Inose-sama and Abe-sama are currently aware of your true identities.”
> 
> “I still feel like this might come back and bite us,” Haruka spoke up, “I mean, with the Dark Kingdom possessing humans and everything, what if one of them gets possessed? Or, better yet, what happens if someone who works at either of their offices finds some paperwork associated with the senshi and decides to talk to the press? Then our real life identities will be all over the news.”
> 
> See you next week with Chapter 13: Diamond Princesses!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey everybody. Sorry today's postings a bit late. I've had a lot happening recently medically and I barely remembered today is Friday and thus posting day.
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> Thanks to AzarathMetrionZ, Ash Devel Sadist, and Light-Sakura for the reviews. To Oshitari Akina, Squidgod12, Opaqe Chesire (have you finally got caught up on this yet?), Ruby Warrior Girl 730, jewel1832, and chelsealovesya1995 for the favs. To IcegoddesLexra, Oshitari Akina, Starlit Warrior for the alerts.
> 
> A side note from my lovely beta: I'm very sorry for the delay. After I got to my parents' last Tuesday evening, the internet went out in the middle of the night - their modem got fried during an outage in the area - so I've been without until getting back to my apartment today for summer term after family events for the holiday. And, unfortunately, it is very difficult to email a finished, edited chapter to our lovely writer without internet.  
> Enjoy and best wishes,  
> ~JulieMarie
> 
> Admittedly I am not sure if I would have gotten to post last week chapter in hand or not. Last week I was at Disneyland for the 24 hour event so it would have been hard to get Chapter 13 to you if it had been on time. Anyway here is the chapter.

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today I got to step out into the high life for part of our senshi work. It was fun and quite different from our usual senshi work._

_Masato-san invited_ _Naru to attend with him and it seems like they are getting along nicely – despite the obvious age difference, that is. However, I have this feeling I can’t quite put my finger on that something just isn’t quite right about Masato-san…_

“He actually invited you out to something?” Usagiexclaimed several days later on the walk from school.

“Uh huh! He said that he was looking for someone to accompany him and asked if I would join him,” Naru said, grinning.

“Great, everyone has an invite but me,” Usagi said, slightly more exasperated than jealous.

“Why are you interested anyway? Parties were never really your thing. And I wouldn’t think Luna would be that interested in some sort of fancy party,” Naru said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, well, Luna wants me to go because she’s wondering if the mysterious royal treasure of the D Family is somehow connected to the crystal she mentioned before, but I don’t see how I could get in. I’m seriously tempted to tell Luna to shove it for once and let Haruka and Michiru handle it. I mean, why the heck would an ancient crystal from such a far off place be with a royal family from a small country of all places?” Usagi replied.

Luna hadn’t talked about the crown jewel of the Moon Kingdom that much. At the moment it was honestly in contention with the kingdom itself for things she talked about the least. She had only said that they were supposed to look for it because it was the true weapon of the Moon Princess and that it was instrumental to beating the Dark Kingdom. Despite their lack of information, it was number one priority besides finding the princess’s true identity.

“Maybe the queen sent it there for safe keeping when the kingdom fell?” Naru suggested.

“The D kingdom may be old but I don’t think they’re that old,” Usagi said.

“How are Haruka and Michiru getting in anyway?” Naru asked of what Usagi had glanced over in passing.

“I think Michiru’s agent hooked them up with some playing time during the party or something like that,” Usagi said, trying to remember the explanation she had been given.

“So you’re the odd one out then?” Naru asked.

“Pretty much, unless Luna manages to pull something out of thin air. Which, after she has done in the last month and a half, I wouldn’t put it past her to find some way to get me into the ball, but she isn’t exactly a miracle worker. Even if we got the disguise, there are so many things we would be lacking. Like clearance, the correct ids, stuff like that,” Usagi said.

After passing a few minutes in silence she changed subject, “What about your Mom? What did she say about going with Masato-san?”

“Uh, I still haven’t asked her yet, but hopefully she’ll say yes,” Naru said, smiling slightly.

“Well, you have a better shot of getting her to say yes than I would if I were in the same situation. Lord knows if I even mention dating to my Dad, forget dating a guy that is a few years our senior, he would freak,” Usagi said, rolling her eyes at the thought.

“That’s true enough,” Naru said, giggling at some memories of their earlier childhood. Usagi’s Dad had always been a bit overprotective. It had only gotten worse since the earthquake.

* * *

After the conversation of the day before, it was no surprise when Luna showed up the following afternoon carrying an envelope in her mouth, making Naru start laughing. Usagi threw a half-hearted glare at her longtime friend while Haruka and Michiru watched the exchange with half-amused, half-confused expressions.

Luna paid no mind to Naru, dropping the envelope straight into Usagi’s lap. The cat settled down onto her usual pillow as Usagi pulled out the contents that confirmed her suspicion. She turned to the cat, a mix of exasperated and impressed, and said, “Do I even want to know how you managed to pull this one off?”

“Inose-sama,” Luna responded.

“That makes sense. I – wait! You’re saying he actually knows our real identities?” Usagi said as the implication of the documentation and Luna’s answer clicked.

“He knows all of yours,” Luna admitted after a brief pause.

“WHAT – Whoa, hold on – You can’t be serious,” the three different responses overlapped.

Luna winced slightly at the volume, but once they had stopped she spoke again, “Look, it was a necessity, mainly for reasons like these. Inose-sama said, and I had to agree, that for certain reasons it was best that the higher-ups be aware of your identities. This may or may not be the last time you have to infiltrate something that you would normally not have clearance for. With him being aware of your identities, he can create the proper paperwork and documentation for you to get in to certain areas that you, as normal teenage girls, would be not allowed into.”

“But what if we need something where our real life identities are not the best to go with?” Michiru questioned with a frown.

“We have discussed that some and we will get to those crossroads if need be,” Luna answered. When that didn’t seem to calm the girls’ nerves she continued, “If it makes you three feel any better, only Inose-sama and Abe-sama are currently aware of your true identities.”

            “I still feel like this might come back and bite us,” Haruka spoke up, “I mean, with the Dark Kingdom possessing humans and everything, what if one of them gets possessed? Or, better yet, what happens if someone who works at either of their offices finds some paperwork associated with the senshi and decides to talk to the press? Then our real life identities will be all over the news.”

Judging by the tail twitching Luna hadn’t exactly thought that over. After a minute or so of silence she spoke, “We are just going to have to hope that they are careful about any paperwork they fill out and, if they aren’t careful, none of their workers connect the dots.”

* * *

“I still don’t like what she did,” Usagi commented as she finished getting dressed back at her apartment. Naru was getting a ride from Masato-san and Haruka and Michiru were supposed to have already arrived well before the ball started to help get everything set up for playing, so Usagi was stuck traveling with her Dad to the embassy.

“I know, sweetheart, and I agree, but she did have a legitimate point even if she left out one of the most important ones,” her mother said, finishing up with her hair.

“And that would be?” Usagi asked.

“If you girls ever get in trouble because of your senshi duties, he probably can clear you out,” she responded.

“That’s true I guess,” Usagi said, more to herself than anyone.

“All done,” her mom said, giving her head a satisfied pat. “Now stand up and do a twirl for me. I want to make sure everything looks in place.”

Usagi got to her feet, getting a proper glimpse of herself in the nearby mirror as she turned to comply. Unlike the sun dress she had worn for the Cinderella Caravan, this dress was a full length ball gown that Michiru had lent her, dark blue with some gems scattered about. Her hair had been taken out of the usual meatball style and had been French-braided. Overall it looked pretty nice, she guessed.

“Oh, you look perfect!” her mom beamed.

“I doubt that,” Usagi muttered.

“Oh, don’t be such a downer. Go to your father so I can get some pictures and the two of you can get out of here to the embassy,” her mom said, giving her a light push in the direction of the bedroom door.

* * *

A half hour later, Usagi lingered at the black wall of the consulate. The arrival had been mostly uneventful. So far everything had checked out and no one had said anything to her about her presence. Still, she couldn’t help expecting a security guard to walk up and tell her to leave in spite of Luna’s insistence that she was cleared to attend.

Her Dad had left her fairly early on to take photos of some of the celebrities and other things for his work. She had been expecting this, but she had hoped she would track Naru down before being left to her own devices. But, since that hadn’t happened, she was just trying to keep out of everyone’s way by hanging out in the back.

“Usagi!” Naru’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.

Turning to the direction of the voice, she saw her friend wearing a lilac ball gown and a mask of the same color. To her right she was her escort, Masato-san. She gave them a grin and said, “Naru, good to see you. You look nice.”

“Same,” Naru replied, giving her a light hug. She turned a little as she continued, “Masato, this is my long time friend Usagi Tsukino. Usagi, this is Masato Sanjouin.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Naru talks about you often,” he said, taking her hand and giving it a kiss on the back.

“All good things I hope. And the feeling is mutual, Naru tends to talk about you a lot, too,” she replied with a hint of teasing.

“Masato, would you mind getting us a drink?” Naru asked after a few minutes of conversing.

“Of course. I will return in a few moments,” he said before turning to make his way over to the refreshment table.

“So, anything so far?” Naru asked curiously once he was out of hearing range.

“No, but I don’t even know what exactly I am supposed to be looking for. Luna gave a general description but that could probably match about a thousand different gems on earth. I honestly wish I could have found a way to sneak her in since her expertise would be very valuable, but security is so tight I probably would have been caught within five feet of the door,” Usagi said, glancing around the room for any hints of the item that she was looking for.

“Yeah, I can just imagine the strange looks if you tried sneaking her in, let alone the looks you would give if you tried to use your actual reason as an excuse to bring a cat in here,” Naru said, smiling a little at the mental image that had popped into her head.

Usagi rolled her eyes good naturedly at the comment but anything else on the topic was cut off by Masato’s return. She took the offered drink, sipping slightly and watching the two talk.

It was rather cute how infatuated Naru was with Masato, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she should know him from somewhere she couldn’t place. Finally excusing herself from the couple, she decided to get away from the ever growing crowd in the ballroom and get some air, stepping out onto one of the balconies of the consulate that was mostly empty except for a couple of chairs.

“Taking a break from the crowd, too, huh?” an amused voice commented after a minute or so of her being out on the balcony.

Usagi nearly jumped a foot in the air in surprise. Turning, she saw a black haired guy in a tuxedo maybe a few years older than she. She had honestly thought the balcony was empty. After a moment she relaxed slightly before replying, “Yeah, I’m not too big on crowds.”

“Then what are you doing here?” he asked, seeming to be genuinely curious.

She tilted her head, trying to think about how to phrase it. She couldn’t tell the truth – he would think she was nuts if she did that – but maybe a partial truth.

“As a favor for a friend,” Usagi said, leaving out the fact that the “friend” wasn’t even human.

“Must be some friend if you are going out of your comfort zone for them,” he commented.

“Yeah, well, I kind of owed her a favor,” she lied. She couldn’t really think of any favors she owed Luna, rather the opposite, but that seemed more plausible than her doing this just because Luna was her “friend.”

“Well, that makes more sense, I guess,” he replied.

“What about you? Why are you avoiding the crowds when you could be in there partying?” Usagi asked, changing the subject before it got too odd and making a motion back towards the ball room.

“I am… seeking some information that I was hoping I could find here,” he admitted.

Usagi frowned slightly at the slight pause but decided to ignore it for now. “This seems like an odd place to be gathering info, but good luck with that, I guess.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it, and the circumstances kind of require me to gather info here,” was his response.

Usagi stood up, fully stretching herself out after a lapse of silence, and said, “Anyway, I probably should get back in there. Nice talking to you.”

“Same,” he replied before she slipped back into the increasingly crowded ballroom.

* * *

Most of the ball passed without much happening. Usagi was starting to wonder if this whole trip was pointless since they hadn’t been able to gather any information on anything when a loud crash drew the attention of everyone in attendance. Her hand flew up to where her locket lay beneath the dress, wondering if she would have to transform somewhere private, when she saw a girl not too much older than her rush past without warning.

“What the-” Usagi muttered. She had seen enough pictures in the news to recognize the crown princess of the D Kingdom, but everything she had read described her as a quiet, shy girl – this didn’t seem like something she would do. Was the Dark Kingdom there?

But then how did they get in, she wondered. She knew Inose-sama knew of the Dark Kingdom generals and would probably put all the embassies and consulates on high alert during events like this in case they tried to use it as a method for gathering energy. This had to have either been set up well in advance or somehow Nephrite had managed to get it – which was rather unnerving in itself since that implied he was some high-ranking person in Japan.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed some security guards trying to stop the princess. She wasn’t really responding, just trying to get around them. Now convinced that the Dark Kingdom was somehow involved, Usagi decided to try and find a private bathroom to transform. She would need her crescent mirror to break the princess out of her trance if her suspicions were correct.

“Usagi?” Michiru questioned.

“Keep her distracted any way you can until I can transform and heal her,” Usagi responded before disappearing into a nearby side hall.

It took her a few minutes of hunting before she finally found something private enough – a closet of all things, but it would work – to transform in. Hoping the tight quarters wouldn’t be a problem, she said, “Moon Prism Power Make Up!”

As soon as her clothes faded to her senshi uniform, she grabbed the crescent mirror from the sub pocket that all items went when they transformed. Poking her head out to make sure no one was around to be greeted by an empty hall, she stepped out. She hoped Haruka and Michiru had been able to keep the princess distracted as she made haste towards the ballroom that she had so quickly departed.

Slipping back into the ballroom, she was relieved that most were too distracted by Haruka and Michiru currently playing monkey in the middle with the box that the crown princess had tried to take out of the embassy. She wasn’t sure how they had pulled that off or why they weren’t being stopped but didn’t question her luck as she searched in her pocket for the crescent mirror.

Finding it within a few seconds, she whipped it open, pointing it at the possessed princess and calling out the attack name, “Moon Healing Escalation!”

It took only a few minutes for the items affect to kick in as she watched a dark cloud, not too different from the ones she had seen escape from the possessed items, escape from the princess before she collapsed to the floor. Huh, so that’s what the mirror was supposed to do.

There was a moment of silence as most of the remaining occupants of the room stared on in disbelief. After a minute or so Usagi spoke, “Uh, I’m no particular medical expert so I’m not sure if possession can actually affect anyone besides the obvious, but it still might be a good idea to have someone look at her.”

That seemed to snap the other people in the room back to attention as several of them swarmed the crown princess. Taking a step back towards the hallway she had used to transform, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the girl get to her feet, a tad bit confused but otherwise okay, and then turned to go get out of her senshi uniform.

* * *

Today was not a good day to be Usagi’s Dad’s boss. Koichi-san had been really hoping to get something good out of the previous night’s events at the D embassy. While the events had been unusual, the kingdom successfully wrote it off as part of the evening’s activities despite the appearance of this new Sailor Moon character that seemed to be popping up all over.

“Boss, you might want to see something we noticed at the ball,” one of the employees commented, holding a DVD in his hand.

“What now?” he asked frowning slightly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll like this. We noticed something unusual on the tapes,” he said as he popped the DVD into the computer drive.

He frowned as the DVD played. It appeared to be your everyday security tape of one part of the ballroom. He turned to the employee and said, “I am not sure what exactly I am supposed to be looking at.”

“Look at the girl who disappears into the hallway before that Sailor Moon character appears,” he said, pointing at the girl in the dress who disappeared into a side hallway on the video right as the commotion with the D princess was kicking off.

“So?” he asked, frowning slightly.

“So, she doesn’t reappear again until after that Sailor Moon girl comes in and takes care of the princesses’ problem. And she comes out of the same hallway,” the man said.

He frowned catching on to what he was implying, “While that is odd, it isn’t much to run on. She very well could have been told to hide while Sailor Moon took care of the problem. Besides, a black and white video isn’t going to tell us much about what the girl looked like.”

“So ask Tsukino-san if he saw her. He was at the ball as a photographer, wasn’t he? He may be able to help confirm or dismiss whether or not the girl looks anything like this Sailor Moon,” came the suggestion.

“All right, I don’t have anything better. Send him in,” he said, effectively dismissing the employee.

  _After the_ _drama with the princess things died down, it went back to your usual, mundane ball. The crystal turned out to be some replica of the very first queen of the D Kingdom – so definitely not the crystal that Luna keeps talking about, that’s for sure._

_It was nice for the most part_ _, I guess. We stuck around for a few hours until Dad felt satisfied with all of his photos and said it was time to leave. Haruka and Michiru were still playing when we left; they apparently were a real hit and are getting more offers to play. I’m happy for them._

_Naru said she had a fantastic time with Masato; they ended up at some parfait shop after everything went down apparently deciding to not return to the ball._ _It still seems odd for her to be kind of going out with a guy that is a few years older than us, but she’s happy so I guess that is all that matters in the end._

_I think Luna is going to be upping the search for the crystal soon. I’m not sure how she is going to pull that off since she doesn’t know what happened to it after she was put in a sleep. This is going to be interesting._

_That’s all for now I guess._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So that's it for today. Chapter was a bit shorter than normal I know. Sorry, next week makes up for it I promise with the longest chapter to date. Anyways here is a preview for next week:  
> It was only a couple of days after the ball when Usagi came home to a set of troubled parents. Nephrite had been quiet since the incident at the D Embassy leaving the girls to distract themselves in the meantime. Which was good since it was allowing Usagi to buckle down in preparation for her last set of tests for the year. Not that she really thought it would make that much difference on her chances on continuing on to year 9 at this point.
> 
> “I’m home!” she called as she slipped her shoes off in the entryway.
> 
> “Welcome home. We’re in the kitchen. Usagi we need to talk,” she heard her mother call back.  
> Usagi frowned slightly as she entered the kitchen, “Is something wrong?”
> 
> “Sort of. You might want to sit for this,” her Mom warned from her position at the kitchen table.  
> Usagi’s frown deepened as she took a seat asking, “What’s going on?”
> 
> “Your father’s boss may have discovered that you are Sailor Moon,” her mother said.
> 
> “Wait what?” Usagi said not beleiving her ears.
> 
> “They found a video tape of you entering and exiting the same hallway Sailor Moon appeared and disappeared from. And since you were the only one to enter that hallway in that period of time during the attack my boss drew some conclusions. He of course isn’t hundred percent confident that you are her since the video was in black and white however he is fairly convinced. He came to me for confirmation about whether or not you bore any resemblance to Sailor Moon. I managed to delay answering the question by saying I needed to go through the photos I took to see if I had any of you. But that delay is only going to last so long. And since I have to hand over the photos I took at the ball he probably will eventually look himself to confirm or deny your status as Sailor Moon,” her father said taking over the explanation.
> 
> “Well that’s just lovely,” Usagi said wanting to thump her head against something in exasperation. Luna was never going to let her live this down.
> 
> All right see you next week!


	14. Chapter 14: Animated Crisis!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry about getting this in just barely on Friday. But I've been sick for the past week. And I remembered at the last second that hey its new chapter day. Also LoveInTheBattlefield and other reviewers please go back and make sure you actually read chapter 12. Yes there is a real chapter there now.
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> To LoveInTheBattlefield (I think you missed chapter 12, please go back and read it), graceling42 (hello there new person!), Sailor Tala, Puffgirl1952, Light-Sakura, and AzarathMetrionZ thanks for the reviews. UsagiMoon, Sailor Tala, and biganimefan84 thanks for the favs. UsagiMoon, biganimefan84, and graceling42 thanks for the alerts!
> 
> Only one last note. Beta is taking summer clases. Hopefully she can get stories to me on time. But if there is a delay by a week or two you guys know its on her end at the moment. Since we still have 5 chapters between now and when I need to get back to writing in Camp NaNoWriMo. Enjoy the new chapter!

_Dear Shingo,_

_Luna always made it sound difficult for people to figure out who we really are. In fact she was so confident that she went and told the government, as I mentioned in my last letter. But apparently she underestimated some people’s ability to draw conclusions. . . ._

Nephrite had been quiet since the incident at the D Embassy a few days earlier, leaving the girls to distract themselves in the meantime and allowing Usagi to buckle down in preparation for her last set of tests for the year. Unfortunately, she didn’t really think it would make that much difference on her chances on continuing on to year 9 at this point.

“I’m home!” she called as she slipped her shoes off in the entryway.

“Welcome home. We’re in the kitchen, Usagi. We need to talk,” she heard her mother call back.

Usagi frowned slightly as she entered the kitchen, “Is something wrong?”

“Sort of. You might want to sit for this,” her mom warned from her position at the kitchen table.

Usagi’s frown deepened as she took a seat and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Your father’s boss may have discovered that you are Sailor Moon,” her mother said.

“Wait, what?” Usagi asked, not believing her ears.

“They found a video tape of you entering and exiting the same hallway Sailor Moon appeared and disappeared from. Since you were the only one to enter that hallway during the attack, my boss drew some conclusions. He, of course, isn’t hundred percent confident that you are her since the video was in black and white, but he is fairly convinced. He came to me for confirmation about whether or not you bore any resemblance to Sailor Moon. I managed to delay answering the question by saying I needed to go through the photos I took to see if I had any of you, but that delay is only going to last so long. I have to hand over the photos I took at the ball and he probably will look himself to confirm or deny your status as Sailor Moon, eventually,” her father explained.

“Well, that’s just lovely,” Usagi said, wanting to thump her head against something in exasperation. Luna was never going to let her live this down.

* * *

“Someone figured out WHAT?” Luna’s sharp voice echoed the following afternoon.

“You heard me. Someone that works for the news apparently put two and two together from the security footage they found and seems to have figured out I’m Sailor Moon,” Usagi said, trying not to roll her eyes in annoyance.

“I told you to be careful where you transformed into Sailor Moon for this very reason,” Luna replied.

“I was careful! I transformed in a hall closet, of all places, because it was the only place where I was sure there wasn’t a security camera. It’s not my fault that someone was smart enough to realize the only person who left the room through that door came back in full senshi garb,” Usagi snapped back. She still couldn’t believe this was happening, but her father said the man had video to back up his claims.

Luna’s eyebrow twitched at the comment before she said, “Nevertheless, we are in a bit of a tight spot. It seems like you have the tendency to attract trouble.”

“Anyway, what do we do now?” Usagi asked after a pause, choosing not to take the baited statement.

Luna’s tail twitched back and forth in thought before she replied, “Honestly, the best thing would be to destroy any evidence and any memories he has of the possibility of your alias, but that may be too complicated.”

“Perhaps, if we play everything right, we can find a way out of the situation without resorting to your suggestion and use this to our advantage instead,” Michiru suggested.

“I’m not sure how that would work,” Luna said, frowning slightly.

“I think that what Michiru is suggesting is that it would be best to establish a positive relationship with a news organization. You said your dad works for this place, right, Usagi?” Haruka spoke up.

“Yeah, Dad has been working for them since we moved down here, why?” Usagi asked, still a bit confused on where the older girls were going with this.

“Maybe if we give him exclusive access to us, the sailor senshi, we can keep him from giving away Usagi’s identity. Say we tell him that we will use his newspaper for personal interviews, statements, and the like as long as he keeps Usagi’s identity a secret and Usagi’s father is the reporter that works for us,” Michiru said.

Luna frowned, thinking over the suggestion before replying, “That may work but I still reserve the right to go back to the other plan if he threatens to tell the world Usagi’s identity. Understood?”

* * *

It took a couple more hours to figure out their plan. In the end, they decided that Usagi would go speak with the man as Sailor Moon. They figured they might have a chance of keeping her identity a secret if they did this right, but they would have to be very careful.

It was no surprise that she drew stares the minute they walked into Usagi’s dad’s office. A lot had been circulating in the media and through town about the girls, but since they had kept to themselves, not much was known about them to the general public other than the statements that occasionally came out from the governor’s office.

She attempted to ignore the looks she and her dad were garnering as they made their way to the editor’s office but it was hard. She wasn’t really used to being out in public in uniform, unless you counted the fights with the youma, and she had gotten used to being too busy fighting to notice whatever stares came with their job.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard her dad say, “Sir, Sailor Moon is here and she wants to speak to you if possible.”

The editor’s attention rapidly turned from the computer to them. A surprised look crossed his face before he said, “Ah, Ms. Moon, take a seat, would you? Tsukino-san, would you tell Aira to clear out my schedule until further notice? Tell her we have an important client.”

As she took her seat her dad said something in affirmative before leaving the two alone in the office. She watched the man take some note before turning his full attention to her.

“So, Ms. Moon, what can I do for you?”

“My fellow senshi and I recently realized that we have been so busy with our jobs that we haven’t had a chance to build our public relations other than that with the government,” Usagi began explaining her presence.

“Yes, of course, but I am not sure how we can help you with that. I would think someone who specializes in public relations would be better suited, as much as I hate to say it,” he said, frowning slightly.

“Well, we are looking for a possible public relations agent,” Usagi said. It was true; after the recent events they had managed to convince Luna that getting someone to help with their presentation to the public would be a positive and not a negative. “We were thinking that possibly establishing a working relationship with a newspaper might be good; someone who would be willing to publish our own statements, interviews, etc. The government has provided a good mouthpiece so far, but we want the world to know that we aren’t just a tool of the government. That we are own people and not just a chess piece in the grand scheme of things.”

“All right, sounds fair enough. What are your conditions for the arrangement?” he inquired, leaning back in his chair as he observed her. This sounded almost too good to be true, so of course there were terms that they would probably want to lay down.

“Simple. Nothing about our personal lives unless we okay it first, if we say that we don’t want to discuss the subject that it will be dropped, and that Tsukino-san be the reporter assigned to us for everything that we get printed with you. If you agree to those terms, you will become our go-to news organization. No other news organization will have this kind of access to us. Not CNN, not NHK, you guys,” Usagi said.

He milled over it before replying, “All right, the terms seem fair enough, though I must ask why you want Tsukino-san assigned to you? He is fairly new with us. He’s not bad, it’s simply a surprise you requested him.”

“I know Tsukino-san personally and I trust him. I know he has only started working here recently but I would rather have all our work go through someone we know we can trust,” Usagi rationalized.

“Fair enough. You have yourselves a deal then. When do you want to try doing something with us?” he said after thinking for a couple more minutes.

“We were thinking sometime next weekend. All of us are still attending school at the moment, so maybe a pre-recorded interview with the three of us over the weekend to be aired at your choosing?” Usagi suggested what she and the other girls had decided would be best.

“Sounds reasonable. Do you have a way you can be reached when we are ready to set up the interview?” he asked.

She dug around in the purse she had brought, pulling out the card they had made at the last minute. It was simple enough, listing her as Ms. Moon and giving a contact email. They had agreed not to list phone numbers since they couldn’t guarantee that they would be transformed and thus have their illusions in place if answering a phone call. She handed it over, noticing the slight frown he wore before he inquired, “No phone number?”

“No, our abilities come with a layer of illusions that keep people from realizing who we are when looking at or hearing us. We can’t guarantee that we would be able to put up the illusions before answering a phone if we gave you a number,” she replied.

“That makes sense. Though, speaking of identities, I want to ask you about something while I have you here,” he said before digging through his desk. He pulled out a photo of what Usagi recognized as herself entering the side hallway only two days prior. “We noticed during your last appearance that right before you appeared the girl seen here disappeared into the same hallway that you came out from and did not reappear until you had taken care of your business at the embassy. I was wondering if you saw her or ran into her in the hall.”

The unsaid accusation hung in the air as Usagi carefully worded her answer.

“I ran into her not long after I arrived on the premises. I helped her find a hiding place in a nearby supply closet in the hallway and helped get her out once everything was done, then I headed out of the embassy.”

“All right, that’s all I wanted to know,” he said, tossing the photo into a nearby trashcan, much to Usagi’s relief. They had really dodged a bullet on that one and would have to be more careful in the future.

When he made a move to stand, Usagi followed realizing her legs were shaking slightly. This appeared to have gone off without a hitch. They shook hands as he said, “I will be in contact with you for those interviews within the week. Can you get out of here without getting lost?”

Usagi fought down a nervous laugh, thinking about her bad sense of direction. It wouldn’t be the first time she got lost in a ridiculously short distance if that did happen, but nevertheless she replied, “Yeah, I should be okay. Thank you for your time.”

He led her to the door and opened it for her. She slipped out and watched the heads turn again as she walked back in what she hoped was the direction of the elevator. She would save talking to her dad until later.

* * *

Almost a week later, the girls sat in front of the cameras for their first interview. It had taken sometime and going over their terms of agreement, but once both sides had been satisfied the higher-ups at Jouhou Studios had been more than eager to set up the interview, even giving them a primetime slot.

Honestly, Usagi had been surprised how fast it had been set up. Haruka had been the one to point out that whoever was in charge of the company probably saw the opportunity to be the primary source for all things senshi as a gold mine. The higher-ups had been very eager to get some professional photos and videos of the three in action to advertise that night’s interview.

When she had asked for her dad to be assigned to him, she had mainly asked for their protection. Her dad knew what to say to not raise suspicions about their real lives and knew how to do everything for their benefit. She hadn’t really expected the extra positives coming from him being assigned to them. When he had been reassigned to them, he had been told this would be his only project, which inventively had led to a better pay and better hours. She had seen more of her dad in the last week than the entire year and a half since they had moved Tokyo after the quake, and it was great.

But for now she had to push all of that and anything else not related to the interview aside as they prepared to go live. They sat in separate chairs surrounded by different cameras and bright lights. It had taken some getting used to when they had first started setting up but once they adjusted they felt everything was okay. As long as nobody messed with anything as far as the lighting went, they should be okay.

“We are going live in one minute,” she heard one of the producers say. They had been introduced to everyone that had been assigned to them as they were being prepared for the interview, but Usagi had been too nervous to memorize names at the time. She figured she could quiz her dad on who was who after they were done.

“You girls ready?” he asked, giving them a slightly nervous smile. Deny it all he wanted, Usagi thought he had to be nervous too since this was his first time on camera since they had moved to Tokyo. This was stepping way out of his comfort zone but he had been willing to do so for them, which they were all grateful for.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Usagi said, trying to return the smile.

They didn’t have a chance to say anything else as the producer said, “And we are live in ten, nine, eight-”

Usagi took one last deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, as he switched over to hand gestures of the numbers. As soon as he hit zero, her dad faced one of the cameras and gave a bright smile.

“Welcome, we are live from Jouhou Studios with the very first interview with the Sailor Senshi. The three ladies who became famous overnight for taking down the terrorist Jadeite have been kind enough to agree to sit down and answer some questions. Thanks for agreeing to the interview, ladies.”

“Gladly, Mr. Tsukino,” they said in unison, having practiced their response.

“I think one thing everyone is curious about is just have long you three been at your duties, protecting the world from these strange creatures that have begun surfacing recently?” Mr. Tsukino asked.

“That depends on who you ask, actually. I was the first one to be woken by our advisor, Luna, a little less than a month before the Jadeite incident. Uranus and Neptune were woken about two to three weeks prior to the incident,” Usagi said, having been the one who chose to answer this question.

“So you guys are still learning?”

“Yes, our advisor has been helping us train in an undisclosed location on the weekends. It allows us to strengthen our abilities and grow closer as a team,” Haruka answered

“So was Jadeite your first real life fight?” he said raising an eyebrow in question.

“No; while he was our first major fight, we had been fighting various youma for a while before the incident. We also had a hand in resolving the incident at Dreamland a few weeks back,” Michiru responded.

“All right, before we move on to a break before the social media questions, one last question: how can the general viewer recognize a youma attack so they know what to look out for and avoid?” he asked, glancing at his tablet one last time.

“While identifying youma is almost impossible on its own, identifying a victim of a youma is a much easier task. People who have been caught up in a youma scheme usually show a dramatic shift in behavior, often becoming extremely aggressive and very focused on a certain subject or activity. They may also show a shift in energy levels, depending on the tactic the enemy is currently employing. If you know someone who appears to be presenting these symptoms, please call the number listed on the screen so we may have a chance to examine it. Even if you aren’t aware or they can’t recall the exact details that led to it, some smaller details might be able to point us in the right direction,” Usagi said, rattling off the answer she had rehearsed with Luna what felt like a hundred times before Luna was finally satisfied.

“Thank you,” he said, the last part to her before circling to face the camera. “We will be back after these messages.”

It wasn’t until then that Usagi realized how tense she had gotten since the start of the interview. Her dad gave her a reassuring smile, “Relax, you three are doing just fine so far. I know it must be nerve-racking to be in front of the camera like this for the first time, but you ladies are doing well. Wouldn’t you agree, Ms. Luna?”

The last part had been directed at Luna, who had been making her way over in cat form. It had been a general agreement for Luna not to actually take part in the interview. A talking cat would raise too many questions and people would wonder about her human form if she took that during the interview, mainly because Luna never transformed into her human self unless it was to take care of business at the government building.

“Yes, everything is going well, but the hard part is coming up now since the general public is allowed to ask any questions they like.”

“But with the program we have we should be able to avoid any questions that could be slightly dangerous to us. And we can always state something like no comment,” Haruka responded.

“I realize that, I just want you three to be careful,” Luna said.

“All right, everyone back in place, we are returning to air in thirty seconds.”

Any further conversation was cut off by the producer’s announcement. Luna disappeared as the producer got ready to count down.

“And we are back. For those just now joining us, we are doing a live interview with the Sailor Senshi, who have agreed to answer some questions from the general public. You, the general public, have been submitting questions constantly since we announced this part of the interview yesterday morning. Unfortunately we do not have time to ask all the questions and the senshi have asked certain subjects to be considered off topic, but we will try to get through as many as possible,” Mr. Tsukino said.

“Sachiko from Sapporo says that you look fairly young on television and is wondering if you are still in school?” he asked, turning towards back them.

“All three of us are middle school students. I’m in my second year and Uranus and Neptune are in their third year,” Usagi answered. It didn’t hurt to state their years; there were so many middle school students in the Tokyo area that, combined with their illusions, she doubted anyone would think she was really Usagi Tsukino. Besides, there was no way anyone in her school would think for a second that ‘crippled, ugly Usagi’ would ever be a warrior of justice.

She watched her dad frown slightly as he went over the questions presented in front of him before picking the next one, “Amanda from New York City, New York, was wondering what kind of hobbies you three have outside of school?”

“Well, I personally like to play video games and read comics,” Usagi said, keeping her answer short and to the point. While it was going into personal territory like the other, it was safe enough.

“Neptune and I are aspiring musicians. I also like to run in my free time while Neptune likes to paint,” Uranus took over from there.

“Next question comes from Mamoru in the Chiba district he wants to know how come the two others that have been seen helping you out on occasion aren’t with you for the interview.”

Usagi thought carefully how to phrase the answer before replying, “Our relationship with Sailor Pluto and Tuxedo Kamen is a bit complicated. Pluto appeared one day to help us deal with a rather troublesome youma and has been appearing at random since then. Tuxedo Kamen and I have known each other since before Uranus and Neptune awoke; he helped me with another troublesome youma. He appears to be searching for some item that the Dark Kingdom is also hunting, though we are not sure what the item is currently. We have never met either of them in real life but are glad to have their assistance. It has come in really handy more than once.”

Usagi let the others take over for a few questions, a bit tired of being the talker. She really was curious about the item that was sought after by both the Dark Kingdom and Tuxedo Kamen, wondering if it had anything to do with that crystal that Luna had brought up on different occasions. Turning her away from her thoughts as her dad directed a question specifically at her, she realized she would have to ponder it at a later time as they had bigger fish to fry at the moment.

* * *

A couple of days later they got their first real sign of their increase popularity. An animation studio had apparently become interested in animating their adventures so far. In her initial excitement, Usagi had almost replied yes without consulting the others until she realized they might not approve of it, so she had to hold off replying until their next meeting. Not that it took her long to spill the beans once they were all located in the same place.

“An anime?” Michiru asked skeptically.

“Yeah, an anime. Apparently one of the head honchos at this one studio saw the interview and wanted to sit us down to hear more about our fights to possibly produce an anime. If they like it they’ll send one into production to come out sometime in the next season. We’ll even get a cut of the profits,” Usagi said, practically bouncing on her bed in excitement, much to the amusement of Naru. It had been a while since she had seen her friend this excited about anything.

“We would have to be careful what we said, I think, and maybe cut out certain things entirely, but it does sound kind of nice. What do you think, Luna?” Haruka admitted, lounging next to Michiru.

“As you said, we would have to be careful and the deposits you girls would get from it would have to go straight into the Senshi account for security reasons, but admittedly it does sound nice,” Luna admitted after considering the suggestion. All the positive press concerning the senshi had been nice to see and this would definitely help.

“So it’s set! I’ll send them an email back and set up an appointment with them next weekend,” Usagi said, excitedly punching the air. Michiru may have not stated her position but she and Haruka tended to swing the same way so Usagi just figured that she would go along with it.

* * *

It had taken several different visits with the company but Usagi finally got to do the one thing she had been looking forward to most since they had signed the contract for the new anime: take a tour of the studio. It had taken some persuasion and pleading, but they had finally agreed to one on several different terms. Not that she minded; the production of the new anime gave her a chance to check out one place she had wanted to see for herself since that first Sunday morning when she and Naru were five and watching PreCure on the TV.

A preliminary release date had been set for the winter schedule of the year, but that was being optimistic Usagi figured it was most likely going to hit the air about a year down the road. At this point they were mostly meeting with the writers, sharing their different adventures so far. Usagi knew that the episodes wouldn’t be a complete reenactment of their fights but the fact that their fights were interesting enough to warrant an anime was exciting in itself.

“Ms. Moon?” they heard someone question one afternoon as they prepared to leave after Usagi had finally gotten the tour she so badly wanted. It had been almost a week and a half since that first meeting at the studio building and everything had been going great so far.

“Uh, yeah, can I help you?” Usagi asked; she didn’t recognize the girl.

“Hi, um, I’m Kazuko Tadano. I am actually assigned to work on one of the storyboards for an early episode for your show,” she said, extending her hand.

Usagi took her hand, shaking it with a bright smile.

“Nice to meet you, Takano-san, but I’m assuming you are here for more reasons than to just meet us?”

“Yeah, I actually was watching your interview a week ago and I remember what you said about victims of youma attacks and their behaviors…” she began uneasily.

“And you are thinking you know someone who maybe a victim of an attack,” Michiru asked.

“Yeah. But I don’t know, maybe I am reading too much into it. She’s trying to prove to some of the head honchos that she is worthy of working on your anime but this seems a bit extreme for her and she seems to be presenting some of the same symptoms,” the girl said, nervously shifting back and forth a little.

They exchanged a quick glance before Usagi said, “Well, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to look, at least. And even if it isn’t, maybe I can talk some sense into her.”  She added a wink at the end of the statement, trying to cheer up the artist.

A relieved smile spread across Tadano’s face as she said, “Thank you. If you follow me, I should be able to lead you to her as long as she hasn’t gone off somewhere.”

She led them through a set of halls that made Usagi feel lost.

 “So how long have you two known each other?” Michiru asked after a few minutes of silence.

“Since we were kids; we went to school together and everything. When we graduated several years back we promised each other that we would make it big in the anime industry. This is the first really big project that we have been seriously considered to work on. I was picked out a few days ago to help with the storyboards but they wanted to see some more from Hiromi before making a final decision on her joining the project. Normally when she is on the edge it tends to get her fired up and pushes her to excel, but I’ve never seen her like this before,” Tadano-san replied.

“Well I hope no matter what happens at the end of this she gets hired,” Usagi chirped happily. If Hiromi-san really was a victim of a youma attack, it may actually be advantageous but either way she thought it would be nice if the two friends could work on the project together. She knew if she and Naru were ever in such a position they would wish the same for one another.

“This is where she last was,” Tadano-san said, finally leading them into a room. Usagi recognized it as one of the rooms from the tour as one of the animation work spaces, though they sadly hadn’t been able to see any of the current work, only able to look around and talk with some people.

Glancing around, Tadano grinned when she spotted who they had come to see.

“Hiromi! Look who I brought over.”

The artist was the same age as Tadano-san with short curly black hair. She didn’t glance up at the call or when they walked over, continuing to sketch out something that Usagi couldn’t make out from her angle. It was only when Tadano-san reached out to touch her shoulder that the girl finally reacted.

“What! I’m busy,” she snapped.

“Well, I figured since you are so hard at work to get placed on the project I thought you might want to meet the very people the project is based on,” Tadano-san said, seeming to take it in stride, which made Usagi wonder briefly how long Hiromi had been presenting the behavior. So far it looked like Tadano-san had been on the right track. It was hard to tell at this point whether or not they were doing with a youma itself or a youma spell; the latter would be easy enough to break, but if it was the former they would have to not only locate the object but also destroy it before the youma had a chance to power up. That would be much easier said than done in the crowded work environment, which meant they would have to draw Hiromi out.

Thinking quickly, she flipped the top of the compact mirror open discreetly, pointing it at her and saying, “Moon Healing Escalation!”

It had an effect, just not the one she wanted. The pencil Hiromi-san had been holding start to glow that color associated with the Dark Kingdom and flew out a nearby window, much to the agape stares of the room’s other occupants. As soon as it vanished from view, Hiromi suddenly relaxed, seeming to come out of a daze.

“Kazuko? What happened?” she asked, noticing the Sailor Senshi for the first time.

Usagi took that second of distraction to turn to the older senshi and say, “Uranus, Neptune, try following the pencil if you can. If we can catch it before it gets the energy back to Nephrite, all the better. I’ll catch up with you in a second I want to make sure she’s okay.”

Though that earned her a quizzical look from both girls, she managed to shoo them off eventually. Turning back to the two ladies, she saw that Hiromi was now staring at them in wonder. After a second she seemed to come to her senses, snapping her mouth closed.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry for my behavior and anything I said during the last ten minutes,” she managed to say.

Usagi gave a nervous laugh.

“It’s fine, you aren’t the first rude person we’ve encountered under a youma spell and won’t be the last. You should really be apologizing and thanking your friend here. She was the one that brought it to our attention so we could help.”

“Nevertheless, my apologies. Not to be rude or anything but shouldn’t you be chasing after your friends?” Hiromi asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“I will in a second but I was wondering if you could tell me anything you remember about the attack. Nephrite has been a particularly troublesome bad guy. Luna wants us to try to get a step ahead of his plan but that’s so hard to do at times. Do you remember anything in particular about that day? Anything strange that stands out in your mind?” Usagi asked. Gathering information on Nephrite had been difficult so far since most people didn’t seem to remember much from their time with enhanced abilities, but she still had to try.

“No, I’m sorry. The last thing I clearly remember was walking back to the studio with Kazuko,” Hiromi said.

“It’s fine. It was a worth shot. If you do remember anything, please call the Senshi hotline and leave the information there,” Usagi said, giving a slight bow before making a beeline to the exit. Hoping she wouldn’t get lost on her way out, she began making a mad dash out, hoping that the youma and her fellow Senshi hadn’t wandered too far.

* * *

It was sheer dumb luck that she found the girls within a reasonable time without getting too lost. The older girls hadn’t wandered too far from the studios to an open clearing that would allow for better fighting. She got there in time to dodge a Spiral Buster.

 “What the heck?!” Usagi yelped

“About time you showed up. These two can apparently use a slightly powered down version of our attacks. We have been dodging them for the last several minutes; as soon as one ends the other begins,” Haruka called over her shoulder as she straightened up. Emphasizing Haruka’s point, she found herself scooting across the floor to dodge an incoming Splash Edge.

“Well, my Tiara is only so powerful and I’m not sure it would vaporize two youma. All three of us having to dodge makes it impossible for even me to get an attack in. Ideas?” Usagi responded as the group dodged another Spiral Buster.

“We have to get them to stop working so cohesively long enough to get out own attacks in,” Michiru said after consideration.

“Or maybe if we all launch attacks at the same time one of us can get a hit in,” Usagi suggested.

“That might work but our attacks must be perfectly timed for us to manage that sort of synchronization,” Michiru said after a slight pause.

“Not sure we have much of a choice. Besides, even if we can’t get a hit in, we may be able to break up their synchronization long enough to get another attack in,” Usagi replied.

“True enough, but to pull off the latter means that one of us is going to start having to power up as soon as we launch the attack,” Haruka pointed out.

“I’m out then. The mirror isn’t an offensive item, I need to get closer for it to have any effectiveness really, and the tiara has to return to me before I can launch another attack with it. By the time it got back any advantage we gained would be gone,” Usagi said.

“I will; I should have the fast enough reaction time to begin powering up as soon as we launch the first attack,” Haruka said.

“All right, then, on my cue,” Usagi agreed, her hand reaching up to her tiara as the two older girls stood to her sides and began to power up their attacks. Usagi planned to launch in the interval between their enemies’ attacks. They would have to be careful and time it right to avoid getting hurt, but if they did this right they might be okay.

As soon as the blue youma launched a Splash Edge Usagi said, “Now!”

Tossing her tiara straight in the direction of the youma, it forced them to split and run off in an effort to dodge the trio of attacks. Michiru’s Splash Edge, strangely enough, hit the pink one, knocking it back several feet just as Haruka finished powering up a second Spiral Edge and Usagi’s tiara returned to her. Seeing Haruka take aim at the all ready damaged pink one, she took aim at the blue one and tossed her tiara as she said, “Moon Tiara Magic!”

Michiru launched her own Splash Edge a few seconds later, but they were all surprised when the attack merged with Usagi’s tiara, forming a blue ball of energy around it. Usagi blinked once then twice when the attack hit the youma, dissipating it just after Haruka finished off the other.

Usagi stared at the dust that had appeared when the youma disappeared.

“Did you know we could do that?” Michiru asked, earning Usagi’s gaze and a shake of the younger girl’s head.

 “No. If I had, I would have suggested it when we were fighting Jadeite. I wonder why Luna never mentioned it.”

“Well, we can quiz her about why she was withholding information tomorrow at the meeting. For now, we know we can do it and it will definitely come in handy to power up our attacks,” Haruka said, stretching slightly.

“Where is Mr. Tsukino anyway? I thought he would have been here already since he knew the tour was only an hour long,” Michiru said, frowning. Even though it was mostly private, they referred to Usagi’s dad by his formal name for safety reasons.

“Right here,” he called as he emerged from some of the bushes off to the side. He held up a camera in explanation. “I was getting some photos from a safe distance for the next article, but since it’s over now I should be getting all of you girls home. Come along.”

_So ends what I think has to be the craziest two weeks I’ve had since I became a Sailor Senshi. First the reporter scare, then our first public interview, and now a new anime coupled with a youma attack. I just want some room to breathe, you know, especially with finals coming up!_

_I’m going to be sitting them in the next week and we still don’t know what’s going to happen with Nephrite; forget about whether or not I am going to move on to grade nine._

_Not that that will happen. I’ll probably be back in Ms. Haruna’s class again in April no matter what. I know Naru and the others tell me to keep my chin up and hope for the best but it’s hard sometimes, you know?_

_The only really nice thing came as an apology for the incident at the animation studio; we actually got some souvenirs in the public mailbox we set up! I think Hiromi would have lost her job if I hadn’t insisted on her being placed on the project, arguing that someone who had actually lived through a youma attack was the best person for the anime. Hopefully everything works out well for the anime._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So that wraps up Chapter 14. Preview for next week's chapter is here: 
> 
> The older girls words did continue to haunt her through the next day. And the strange feeling she had been feeling for the last day or so seemed to only increase when Naru told her that she was meeting up for some romantic late night meeting that night with Masato. She knew she shouldn’t budge but she couldn’t help feel the need to protect one of her last remaining childhood friends from anything and everything.
> 
> But those worries and concerns were pushed out of her mind when she came across an email in the senshi email address from Nephrite himself. She had never once considered the fact that the enemies might be able to find them via the internet until now. Maybe going public hadn’t been such a good idea in retrospective but what was past, was past and nothing could change it at this point.
> 
> Of course the last minute email ended up calling an emergency meeting of the senshi not too far from the location Nephrite had mentioned in the letter. Usagi was nervous and unsure about the whole thing though she had noticed that the timing and location of the meeting honestly wasn’t too far from where Naru was supposed to meet Masato, curious.
> 
> Michiru was currently scanning the email in the silence before saying, “It seems genuine but you never know with emails. Some of this seems to good to be true to be honest.”
> 
> “I’m with Michi. I mean the guy either wants to be healed or act as our spy until we can get him a healer. I know he mentioned that he has fallen for someone outside the Dark Kingdom but I still feel like there is more going on. What about you Luna?” Haruka admitted pointing the last part of the sentence at Luna who seemed to be deep in thought.
> 
> “It does seem like a good offer but I feel like there is something more to it than him just falling in love with some random Earth girl,” Luna said looking up with a slight frown as she though over all of their encounters with Nephrite so far. It was so out of the blue and random that Luna couldn’t help but question the truthfulness of the content.
> 
> “It is a bit more complicated than that Lady Luna,” all of them jumped when they heard the familiar voice of Nephrite address them with a chuckle.
> 
> Holding his hands in a defensive position when Haruka and Michiru appeared to move to on the offensive he said, “Easy. I was being honest in the email. I really just want a way out of being under Beryl’s thumb.”
> 
> They relaxed a minuscule but all three were on high alert. After a minute of silence Luna spoke for the first time since his arrival saying, “I haven’t gone by that title since right after the fall of the Silver Millenium. I must admit it was interesting to hear it again. Though that means you are aware of the past life more than I realize that raises another set of questions Nephrite.”
> 
> “Something about the girl I have fallen for has brought upon memories I never even knew existed and answered some questions I had. With my memories restored I wish to be cleansed of Beryl’s influence so I can start properly searching for my true leader, Prince Endymion,” Nephrite offered as a way of exchange.
> 
> And yes this means starting next chapter we are finally ending the Nephrite arc! See you next week hopefully!


	15. Love Conquers All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey guys sorry for the slight delay! Juliemarie had some health issues combined with school going on so it took a bit longer to get this chapter to you guys. But as we like to say better late then never right? 
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> To random bug, Sailor Tala, LoveInTheBattleField, Light-Sakura, graceling42 (that was actually a bit of an accident on my part funny how things work when writing? As for Pluto she is still going to be popping in and out, I have someone else in mind to fill the Jupiter slot), AzarathMentionZ, Puffgirl1952, and James Birdsong for their reviews. To DreadedCandiru2, Sierra Leone, Moonlit Magic, Karrottop, and Dark-Key0 thanks for adding me to your alerts. To xXMandaXx2694, Dark-Key0, Moonlit Magic, random bug, and Dalek Dravos for adding me to your favorites. Over on AO3 I don't think I ever got around to thanking jewel17, karaus, samebirthdaygirl, hungrytiger, and a guest for leaving kudos. And to samebirthdaygirl for the comment. I know I don't reply to your guys comments or anything but I appreciate the thoughts and the hits. And always a thanks to the unknown readers who read but never leave a trace. I love all of you!
> 
> Anyways please enjoy this chapter. I have to say I've been kind of excited to see your guys reactions to where I decided to take this so please leave a comment or review and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

_Dear Shingo,_

_When I met Masato properly for the first time I felt something was off about the whole situation. For Naru’s sake and happiness I pushed aside my doubts about who he really was at the time, but now I kind of wish I had cornered him about it earlier…_

“Naru? Earth to Naru, are you in there?” Usagi asked. With only a week left in the semester the girls were busy cramming for their respective finals, with Usagi trying to pull off the miracle of all miracles at this point.

Naru blinked once then twice before saying, “Huh? Oh, yeah, just thinking about something.”

“Finals or Masato?” Usagi asked, quirking an eyebrow with a grin. When Naru turned several shades of red, she laughed. “So Masato then. When are you two getting together for another date?”

“He’s been busy with work a lot lately so it won’t be for a while probably,” Naru replied.

“I still can’t believe you convinced your Mom to let you date someone college-aged,” Usagi said, sighing dreamingly. Watching Haruka and Michiru interact and Naru gain a boyfriend made her long for a partner of her own.

“Well, she _actually_ doesn’t know we are dating. She knows we have gotten together a few times but she thinks I was invited to the ball as a friend. And I think for now that might be better,” Naru confessed.

“Still, that you are even allowed out of the house on your own with him is saying something. My dad would seriously freak about me going out with some guy his age as a friend, forget going on a date with one,” Usagi said. While she was interested in a romantic relationship, her dad was a real road block in having a relationship with any guy.

“That is true,” Naru said, giggling slightly before changing the subject, “So, anything new on the Dark Kingdom front?”

“Nothing that you don’t know already. Nephrite seems to be more active recently. Luna thinks he is trying to prove to Beryl that he is still worthy of being her servant since he hasn’t had any success,” Usagi said, leaning back and thinking about the events of the last few days.

“Any chance that she may just take care of him herself?” Naru asked curiously.

“Luna says it’s unlikely,” Usagi responded. After a second she turned back to her homework rather reluctantly. “Anyway, we need to get back to studying. We need to see if we can conquer this material before Monday.”

* * *

“Usagi, you said Naru was in a relationship with Masato Sanjouin, correct?” Michiru asked. They had decided to get out of Naru’s house for once and were having their meeting over in the Infinite Triangle where Haruka and Michiru attended the prestigious Mugen Gakuen. Usagi had only been over a couple of times but it was nice and a good place to meet since they couldn’t meet at Usagi’s place because of the pet ban. Bringing Luna to her house the night of the Jadeite incident had been extremely risky and she didn’t want to risk it again.

“Yeah, they’ve been hanging out for a couple of weeks now. He was how she was able to go to the D Embassy for the ball a couple of weeks back. Why?” Usagi replied, looking up from her school work to the older girl who was currently on her computer.

“There are just some oddities in his records,” Michiru said, frowning in frustration as she looked at her computer.

That earned Usagi’s attention and she stood up, going over as she asked, “Really? What kind of oddities?”

“Take a look,” Michiru said, moving over so Usagi could take a seat in front of the computer. It didn’t take her long to see what Michiru was picking up on. He was clean; almost too clean. There appeared to be missing pieces of information despite Luna’s upgrades to all of the senshi’s personal computers so they could have access to info about the enemy, should the need arise.

“I see what you mean,” Usagi said after reading over the information.

“There seems to be little there,” Haruka commented, coming back from the kitchen.

“Well, Naru always made him out to be a private person, maybe that’s why so little of his information is on the public forum,” Usagi suggested hopefully.

“Doubtful but I guess it could happen,” Haruka replied.

“Look, Usagi, we aren’t trying to get in the way of your friend’s relationship. We are only trying to be cautious,” Michiru assured, defending their search.

“Yeah, I get that and I kind of wonder about him, too. However, Luna hasn’t picked up anything on him that screams Dark Kingdom. If she had, she would have told us,” Usagi pointed out.

“True, just make sure you two are careful around him, okay, Koneko?” Haruka asked.

“I will be but I really do think everything is fine and that he’s just your typical eccentric millionaire,” Usagi said, shrugging her shoulders.

“If that’s the case after Nephrite is gone then we are sorry but with the way things are right now, who knows. Just be careful,” Haruka said.

“Yeah, yeah, I will. I know how to take care of myself,” Usagi said, rolling her eyes in fond exasperation. Their paranoia probably could be blamed on Luna and she appreciated the gesture, but really everything seemed to be okay with Masato-san. It was funny how close they seemed to be growing as a team in just the past month.

* * *

The older girls’ words continued to haunt her through the next day and her strange feeling only seemed to increase when Naru told her that she was planning to meet Masato for some romantic late night meeting. She knew she wouldn’t budge, but she couldn’t help feel the need to protect one of her last remaining childhood friends from anything and everything.

But those worries and concerns were pushed out of her mind when she came across an email in the senshi email address from Nephrite himself. She had never before considered the fact that the enemies might be able to find them via the internet. Maybe going public hadn’t been such a good idea in retrospect but what was past, was past and nothing could change it at this point.

The last minute email resulted in an emergency meeting of the senshi not too far from the location Nephrite had mentioned in the letter. Usagi was nervous and unsure about the whole thing, though she had noticed that the timing and location of the meeting wasn’t too far from where Naru was supposed to meet Masato.

“It seems genuine but you never know with emails. Truthfully, some of this seems too good to be true,” Michiru said, breaking the silence after scanning over the email.

“I’m with Michi. I mean, the guy either wants to be healed or act as our spy until we can get him a healer. I know he mentioned that he has fallen for someone outside the Dark Kingdom but I still feel like there is more going on. What about you, Luna?” Haruka admitted, bringing Luna back from being deep in thought.

“It does seem like a good offer, but I feel there is something more to it than him just falling in love with some random Earth girl,” Luna said, looking up with a slight frown as she thought over all of their encounters with Nephrite so far. It was so out of the blue and random that Luna couldn’t help but question the truthfulness of the email’s content.

“It is a bit more complicated than that, Lady Luna.”

All of them jumped when they heard Nephrite’s familiar voice and chuckle.

Holding his hands in a defensive position when Haruka and Michiru moved to on the offensive, he said, “Easy. I was being honest in the email. I really do want a way out from under Beryl’s thumb.”

They relaxed a minuscule amount, but all three remained on high alert.

“I haven’t gone by that title since the fall of the Silver Millennium. I must admit, it was interesting to hear it again. Though, that means you are aware of your past life more than I realized, which raises another set of questions, Nephrite,” Luna said after a minute of silence.

“Something about the girl I have fallen for has brought back memories I never even knew existed and answered some questions I had. With my memories restored, I wish to be cleansed of Beryl’s influence so I can start properly searching for my true leader, Prince Endymion,” Nephrite offered as a way of exchange.

“Wait, you remember the Silver Millennium? What else do you remember?” Luna questioned. Depending on what he remembered, it could narrow their search for the princess down.

“Only bits and pieces here and there; enough to know I am in the wrong place but not enough to easily identify my allies at a distance. However, if I want a chance at finding Endymion I am going to have to abandon my post as one of the generals as the Dark Kingdom. Not that I mind that so much,” he responded.

“Then what do you propose? You realize you aren’t going to be able to just walk away from the Dark Kingdom if you truly want to be left alone, correct? You have too many strings attached,” Luna stated, frowning slightly.

“Yes, and I am willing to undergo a full cleansing to completely sever any connections with the Dark Kingdom that I have,” Nephrite said.

“You realize by doing that you cut any and all connections with the Dark Kingdom and thus any abilities you may have gained through them. Until you have regained enough of your memories to wield the powers you did during the Silver Millennium, you will be completely powerless,” Luna said, eying him with a disbelieving look.

“Yes, I am, and that is what I want,” Nephrite responded.

Luna paced slightly before turning to Usagi, “Do you have any issues with it?”

“None. What about you two?” Usagi asked the two older girls.

They exchanged hesitant glances before Michiru spoke, “We’re not entirely sure about this. Will a full cleansing really cut all his attachments to the Dark Kingdom and remove any danger we may be in by associating with him out of uniform?”

“A full power cleansing will rid any traces of the Dark Kingdom from him, returning him to the normal human he was before Beryl got her hands on him again in this life,” Luna answered.

“Then I guess we approve,” Michiru agreed after a long pause.

“All right then. Nephrite, I want you to meet us back at this spot in three days at the same time,” Luna said.

“Wait, why are we waiting?” Haruka questioned, frowning.

“Because Usagi needs some additional training to pull off a true cleansing, as do the two of you. If we are going to do this properly, I want as much power going into that Healing Escalation as possible,” Luna said.

“So three days, then, at the same time,” Nephrite said.

“Yes,” Luna replied.

“All right, then I must be going. If I am away for too long when not working on one of Beryl’s plots, I could get into a lot of trouble,” he said, bowing slightly before disappearing through the portal that Usagi had gotten used to seeing the Shitennou use.

“Okay, so this calls for a slight change of plans. We will meet tomorrow night at this clearing around 10 so I can fully prepare you girls for this cleansing. Understood?” Luna said. At the girls’ nods she continued, “Then you are dismissed for now. I will see you tomorrow night.”

Haruka and Michiru quickly took their leave after Usagi told them that she was going to walk home tonight. She briefly pondered waiting for Naru to meet up to meet Masato. If he was really Nephrite, he was probably going to tell her about it tonight, which would answer some of Usagi’s questions. But remembering the late nights ahead, she figured she should probably get to bed early. Besides, she would consider this an act of faith toward Masato if he was really Nephrite.

* * *

Usagi didn’t even need to really ask why when Naru showed up at school the next day in a bit of a bad mood. After class once she found a private spot to talk to her and asked, “So I guess we were right about Masato being Nephrite, then?”

“You suspected that and never said anything?” Naru asked, surprised.

“It was just a suspicion and you two have been so happy together I thought it was best not to bring up something that I wasn’t even sure about,” Usagi explained.

“I appreciate it, I guess. Though, I’m not sure if I want to continue a relationship with someone who works for the Dark Kingdom,” Naru replied, a small smile fading as she spoke.

“He did tell you that he was going through a cleansing, right?” Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow. She would be surprised if he hadn’t mentioned it.

“Yes, but he didn’t go into any specific details,” Naru said.

“The way Luna described it, after he has gone through the cleansing there is no way he could even consider going back to the Dark Kingdom. To me, he seems pretty serious about having a relationship with you if he is cutting off everything that he can actually remember recently,” Usagi pointed out.

“So do you think I should maybe consider continuing our relationship?” Naru questioned with some hesitance. She had been thinking about it but wasn’t really sure what to do with the situation.

“Let me put it this way, when he came to us asking for our assistance he mentioned that one of the reasons he wanted to go through the cleansing was that he had fallen in love with an Earth girl. That seems to show that he cares about you a lot,” Usagi said, observing her friend carefully.

At Naru’s shocked face she decided to elaborate even further, “When he approached us last night he was seeking refuge from the Dark Kingdom. He said that he wanted to pursue a relationship with you – something he never would be able to do as Beryl’s generals without great risk to both of you. That tells me he must have really fallen for you.”

“I just don’t know, I guess. I mean, it says a lot that he is willing to give up the life that he has served for basically as long as he can remember for me. But what if he uses me as a mean of spying on you guys for the Dark Kingdom?” Naru asked after hesitating once more.

“Naru, he asked for a full cleansing. According to what Luna said, when that happens he will lose any ability to be around the Dark Kingdom without endangering himself until he has regained enough memories of the Silver Millennium to be able to use the abilities he wielded as a Shitennou in his past life,” Usagi pointed out.

“What did he list as his second reason?” Naru asked curiously.

“Like me and the other girls used to report to a princess, he and his comrades used to answer to a prince. He wants to seek him out and fight alongside him again like he did once upon a time,” Usagi said.

“I guess I may continue the relationship but really I need time to think about it. Hopefully he will allow me that,” Naru said with a sigh.

“Naru, if he is willing to turn good for you, I bet he would follow you to the ends of the Earth if you just asked,” Usagi assured.

“I guess that is true. So when is the cleansing supposed to happen anyway?” Naru said, bobbing her head in agreement.

“On Friday evening we’re meeting at the same place we met last time to perform the spell. You can come and tell him your decision if you want,” Usagi said, trying to nudge her friend into talking to the guy she had seemed so head-over-heels for only a few days ago.

“Yeah, that may be the best option,” Naru said in agreement, deciding it was best to steer clear of talking about the Dark Kingdom for now.

* * *

“Okay, you three, tonight I am going to be teaching you two,” Luna said, nodding briefly in the direction of the direction of the older girls, “how to transfer the very energy you usually use to power your attacks to another person so they may use it to power up an attack of their own choosing. Usagi, once we have that part under control I will be teaching you how to harness the energy that you are receiving, particularly how to use it to power up your healing power. We will work on how to use it to power up your tiara when we aren’t under such time constraint. However, I want you to sit and observe what I am teaching them, as you will eventually be learning this art yourself in case the situation calls for it. Understood?”

After receiving a confirmation, she instructed Haruka and Michiru to move towards the center of the clearing. She told Usagi to get comfortable on the edge of the clearing, saying she wouldn’t be needed for a while before turning her full attention to the older girls.

“All right, I want you two to find that center you first discovered when you first became senshi. Once you have it, I do not want you to power up an attack. Rather, I want you to play with it: see how it feels, how easy it is to manipulate, what way it flows best, things like that. Once you feel like you have a good grasp of the true nature of your energy, we will move onto the next step.”

While they were doing that, Usagi sat beneath a nearby tree. Since she couldn’t really do or see anything at this point she figured she may as well do something productive, so she pulled out her homework to work on. Luna said she would be going over it but if she wasn’t telling her to actually practice it, she had bigger fish to fry with finals only a couple of days away. If she was going to go out badly, she figured she may as well go out with a bang.

It was for the best since it ended up being a good couple of hours before Luna drew her attention.

“All right, I think we are ready to try transferring the energy,” Luna said, causing Usagi to scramble to her feet.

“So how exactly do we go about this?” Usagi asked out of curiosity.

“There are two ways to do this, one with direct contact and the other with non-contact. Since you three are just learning how to use this technique, we are going to work with the direct contact maneuver for now. Once you have it down we will move onto non-contact, but it is going to be a while before we get to that stage. Uranus and Neptune, I want each of you to place one hand on one of Moon’s arms. For now, Uranus, you take Moon’s right arm. Neptune, her left,” Luna explained.  The girls moved to comply with Luna’s instructions.

“Once in position, I want you to get a firm grasp of your own energy. You two should be able to sense Moon’s energy, but ignore it for now. Moon, I want you to try to sense their energies. Once you two have a good grasp on your energies, tell me.”

It took a couple of minutes before she got any reply, but once she did she instructed, “Okay, now I want you to take a portion of it and attempt to push it towards Moon’s energy. Moon, I want you to take the energy you are sensing and try pulling it towards you.”

Usagi frowned in concentration as she worked to comply with Luna’s orders. She found it difficult to pull the amount of energy she was receiving from the older girls. The second she had enough grasp on one and tried to move to the other one, she lost grip on most if not all of the first’s energy. Finally giving up, she grabbed the offer from Uranus and pulled it to her energy successfully. Feeling a slight boost in energy, she blinked in surprise a couple of times.

“Well?” Luna asked

“I was able to get one of the energies but not both. Every time I tried to grab both I would lose contact with the one I had already grabbed and if I tried to actually get both at once I would only manage to pull over a small amount,” Usagi confessed.

Luna frowned slightly at the comment and sighed.

“Well, this is why we are training. I want you to try again. Uranus, Neptune, be careful how much you are pushing out. I don’t want you two to run too low since it looks like we are going to need more practice to perfect this, understood?”

She earned mumbled affirmative responses from all parties.

“All right. Let’s do this again.”

Usagi sighed, wanting to complain that she didn’t think she would get this down completely in time for their meeting with Nephrite. Nevertheless, she complied, though part of her wondered why Luna hadn’t trained them in this sort of thing before. This would have really come in handy at Dreamland when she had gotten drained by that youma.

* * *

“Luna, give it up. I can’t take two energies at the same time,” Usagi finally snapped on the last day of training before they were supposed to meet Nephrite for the full cleansing. After two days of difficulty trying to follow Luna’s orders to the T with no success, Usagi’s patience had finally run out.

“Usagi, you must. There will come a time when your own energy won’t be enough to defeat an enemy. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but it will come and you need to learn to be able to pull the offered energy to you to power yourself up,” Luna scolded.

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t you start training me on this as soon as Uranus and Neptune awoke as Sailor Senshi? You had a good month to train me in this art and never bothered until Nephrite asked for a full cleansing,” Usagi pointed out. Over the last couple of days the fact that Luna had waited on this particular task really was annoying her.

Luna blushed slightly but didn’t disagree with her.

“You did say that you are better at pulling at one energy rather than both, right?” Luna asked after a moment of silence

“Yeah. It’s harder to split my concentration on the two energies than it is to pull over a larger amount of a single energy,” Usagi said.

“All right, I guess it will have to do for now. We are going to work on your speed of being able to pull over energies, then. I want you three to continue what you were doing, Uranus, Neptune, don’t change anything. Moon, however, I want you to pull on one as much as you can, then switch to the other. I want to know how fast you are capable of doing this and whether or not we can improve your speed before tomorrow night,” Luna said, switching to a new approach.

* * *

By the time show time rolled around the following night, the girls had grown fairly proficient at the task, all things considered. Luna still wished Usagi could pull both energies at the same time but had eventually come to accept that it was simply wasn’t going to happen before the cleansing.

Nephrite was expected to show up any minute now. Haruka and Michiru were flanking her, already in preparation. They had already provided a transfer and managed to establish a connection for now in which the energies were mixing. Luna wanted a connection open at all time during the cleansing in case Usagi needed to draw on more energy than they had predicted.

To his credit, Nephrite showed up right at the specified time. He was dressed in normal clothes for the first time since they had found out who he actually was.

 “You are serious about this?” Luna asked.

“Dead serious,” he replied simply.  Luna eyed him warily one last time before turning to face the girls.

“All right, Moon, you know what to do. Uranus and Neptune, get into position.”

Usagi pulled out the mirror as she felt Haruka and Michiru place one hand each of her shoulders. She motioned for Nephrite to move so he was directly in front of her, waiting for him to comply before flipping the mirror open and saying, “Moon Healing Escalation!”

Usagi was grateful for the established connection as she quickly realized this was draining her more than she had expected. So this was why Luna had been instructing them in this technique for the last few nights. She started to wonder briefly if this would ever end and how they would know when it did when she saw a dark black cloud began to rise out of Nephrite. She frowned slightly, what the heck was that?

She got her answer a minute or so later when it fully separated from Nephrite only to dissipate under the mirror’s power. Usagi let out a sigh of relief when she heard Luna say “We’re all clear now. You can close the mirror, Sailor Moon.”

She felt Haruka and Michiru drop their arms as she returned the mirror to her pocket.

“So that’s it?” she asked Luna

“Yes, Nephrite, though I suppose he will go by Masato full time now that he no longer works for the Dark Kingdom, is once again a complete and totally normal human,” Luna said, looking back at her after eying Nephrite –  no, Masato – for a second.

Before Usagi could ask if this mean they could go home, feeling tired from the attack, they were cut off by a cackling laugh. She watched a frown cross over Masato’s face as a man who appeared around the age of the rest of the generals materialized out of thin air.

“Mr. Goody Two-shoes abandoning the great Queen for some measly human,” the man hissed at Masato.

“I made my choice. If you were in my shoes, I am almost positive you would have done the same. Though I am unsure of how you even came about that information,” Masato replied.

“If you honestly didn’t think that Beryl had some inkling this might happen, you are a bigger fool than I thought, Nephrite. Everyone knew you were never truly content serving under the queen, which is why she had me checking in on you,” the man said.

“We were all fools for what we have done now and what we did back then, Zoicite. Jadeite’s chance at redemption died with him but you and Kunzite still have a chance. Wake up, you fools, and realize what you are missing,” Masato responded, crossing his arms.

The man didn’t get a chance to respond as he had to dodge an incoming Spiral Buster/Splash Edge combo courtesy of Uranus and Neptune.

“I didn’t come to play with a bunch of kiddies; I came to deliver a message from Beryl herself. Watch yourself, Nephrite, because you are now marked as an enemy of the Dark Kingdom and nothing is safe anymore,” he said after the attacks moved past him.

Before anything more could be exchanged, he disappeared just as quickly as he had come.

“So what now, Luna?” Usagi asked after a long silence.

“For now, we call it quits. Tomorrow I want us to gather at Naru’s house as usual after school. Nephrite, I want you there as I want any and all information you have on the Dark Kingdom. Understood?” Luna said. After receiving an affirmative from all present, she dismissed them.

Nephrite disappeared through some trees, obviously looking for wherever the car he usually used was parked, as Usagi followed the two older girls. It had been a general agreement that she would ride home with them after the training sessions since it was such a late hour – something that she knew gave her parents some peace of mind.

 _So thus ends a crazy week full on cramming for exams_ and finding _an unexpected ally. I know I had always been a staunch believer of trying to avoid death at all costs_ , _but if I had ever thought that someone would leave this Dark Kingdom for my best friend_ , _I probably wouldn’t have believed it. Just seems so unreal._

 _But it happened_ a _nd Masato_ , _as he will now be called_ , _is settling into a regular life running his company full time instead of just on the side. Naru is slowly starting to forgive him and_ , _while it will_ probably _be a while before they go out together on a date again_ , _I suspect it_ ’ _s only a matter of time._

_Of course I am curious to see what we learn from him at tomorrow’s meeting_ _a_ _nd who this Zoicite_ _guy_ _actually is._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As mentioned prior this is one chapter I've been really excited to see your reactions too. So please send me a quick review or comment to let me know what you think. Even if you don't normally do it. It will make my day.
> 
> As always the preview for Chapter 16:
> 
> She noticed the girl from earlier was sitting at the Sailor V game punching the buttons particularly hard. She took a seat at the empty game next to her as the Game Over screen came up she said, “School frustrating you too?”
> 
> The other girl looked at her in surprise. Usagi elaborated saying, “I saw you in the office when I was going to talk to the administration.”
> 
> “Oh! You look different out of uniform,” she said in response.
> 
> “Yeah I tend to ditch the uniform as soon as school is over. So what was happening with you?” Usagi said as a way of explanation.
> 
> “I’ve gotten in trouble with some people before for some misunderstandings and the school administration wanted me to go through a program before I started classes again. They are at least letting me finish up this year so I have a chance to go into next year instead of barring me from classes. But the class starts right before school starts. So I would have to miss class in order to complete the course. I was trying to see if I could get some sort of exemption so I could still take the class and attend my regular courses,” she said in response.
> 
> “Yeah our school’s administration isn’t the greatest. I need to be transfered out of a teacher’s class if I want any hope of having a better year at school next year and they won’t even commit to that,” Usagi said.
> 
> “Yeash, is she a bad teacher or something?” the other girl asked curiously.
> 
> “Not bad per say just her teacher method doesn’t work really well with me. I have enough issues as it is and her teaching method is just one more thing on top of everything else. If I could make sure I was in someone else's class even if means leaving Naru behind it would make things so much better,” Usagi said in response.
> 
> “Well hopefully they will listen to us,” the other girl said.
> 
> “Knowing my luck probably not,” Usagi said in response. A brief silence lapsed between the two before she said, “By the way I never got your name, what is it? I am Usagi Tsukino.”
> 
> “Makoto, Makoto Kino,” the other girl said fairly pleasantly.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. And see you soon with 16!


	16. Huny for the Crystals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently the delay was related to internet problem related. And its been fixed. So hopefully there will not be any unexpected long delays on the editing delays. However their is some good news out of this when she got the internet she sent me 16 and 17. So 17 will be on time unless I have a brain fart moment next weekend at Comic Con.
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> To trish1573, Puffgirl1952, AzarathMentionZ, graceling42, Dark-Key0, Keyblade, Sailor Tala, LoveInTheBattleField, ladygoddes8, Alicia Paul, and Light-Sakura thanks for all the reviews. This is the most reviews I've gotten between chapters posts and that's including the two month hiatus I took. To EmollyAbused, annea101, FireballHime, and AliciaPaul thaks for puttig the story on your favorite lists. And to phoenixdragon78, annea101, deksab, AliciaPaul, and Smiling SJ for puttig the story on their alerts list. Thanks to WordsmithDee and mavan79 for bookmarking the story on AO3!
> 
> Also its hard to believe but as of this chapter we've now passed the 10,000 hits mark . And I am fully expecting us to hit the 4,000 mark on AO3 in a couple of weeks if not sooner. Thanks for continuing to read the story. And enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 16: The Hunt for the Crystals

 

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today our fight against the Dark Kingdom reached another level as we discovered they are seeking the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou – something that, in the wrong hands, could spell doom for everyone even if we were standing in their way. This, of course, meant Luna upped our training and just about everything else. I have never seen her so nervous about anything ever, but then again I guess if I was in her position I would behaving similarly..._

It had been a couple of days since Nephrite had become Masato, fully leaving behind his history as a Dark Kingdom General. The meeting the following day had been probably been one of the most interesting to date, in Usagi’s opinion, as they learned what Masato _did_ know. It really wasn't much because he didn't have the kind of clearance that Zoicite and Kunzite had, he had explained. Nonetheless, Luna had been ecstatic to get what they had from him.

 

Today, Usagi was in the office trying to get a chance to talk to their principal again. The closer the school year's end became, the more she found herself in the office trying to figure out how to save herself from a reoccurring issue next year. If she was going to have to go through grade eight again, she might as well get things set up for the next year set up now. She looked up when someone walked in she didn't recognize.

 

As she waited to see if she would get what she had asked for, she watched the girl curiously. She was taller than pretty much anyone she had encountered before, bar Haruka who was probably taller than this girl. The new girl spoke in a hushed tone with one of the office people who Usagi could never remember the name of no matter how hard she tried. After the lady shook her head, the girl let out a sigh before turning and leaving the office. Usagi watched her go, wondering what that was all about, but didn't have much time to question it as she was finally called back to see the principal.

 

* * *

 

With no sign of activity from Zoicite, as Masato had stated his name was, the girls were left to their own devices. They would meet in the park later that night to work on the energy transfer again, like every other night, but for now the afternoon was theirs to do whatever they wanted. Usagi decided to go to the arcade that afternoon to try and get her mind off of school after a rather frustrating conversation with the principal. He had said that they would probably move her out of Haruna's, class but wouldn't give her a full positive.

 

She noticed the girl from earlier sitting at the Sailor V game punching the buttons particularly hard. Taking a seat at the empty game next to her as the Game Over screen came up, she said, "School frustrating you, too?"

 

The other girl looked at her in surprise. Usagi elaborated, "I saw you in the office when I was going to talk to the administration."

 

"Oh! You look different out of uniform," she replied.

 

"Yeah, I tend to ditch the uniform as soon as school is over. So, what was happening with you?" Usagi explained.

 

"I've gotten in trouble with some people before over some misunderstandings and the school administration wanted me to go through a program before I started classes again. They’re at least letting me finish up this year, instead of banning me from classes, so I have a chance to go into next year, but the class starts right before school starts, so I’d have to miss class in order to complete the course. I was trying to see if I could get some sort of exemption so I could still take the class and attend my regular courses," she replied.

 

"Yeah, our school's administration isn't the greatest. I need to be transferred out of a teacher's class if I want any hope of having a better school year next year and they won't even commit to that," Usagi said.

 

"Yeash, is she a bad teacher or something?" the other girl asked curiously.

 

"Not bad, per say, just her teaching method doesn't work really well with me. I have enough issues as it is and it’s just one more thing on top of everything else. If I could make sure I was in someone else's class, even if it means leaving Naru behind, it would make things so much better," Usagi answered.

 

"Well, hopefully they will listen to us," the other girl said.

 

"Knowing my luck, probably not," Usagi said with a sigh. A brief silence lapsed between the two before she added, "By the way, I never got your name. What is it? I’m Usagi Tsukino."

 

"Makoto; Makoto Kino," the other girl replied fairly pleasantly.

 

* * *

 

A couple of hours later Usagi left the arcade, planning to head back to her apartment. She was surprised to see Luna hanging around outside, frowning slightly. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything until they were somewhere a bit more private.

 

"So what were you doing at the arcade, Luna?"

 

"I thought I picked up something from there related to the Dark Kingdom," Luna said, glancing discretely back in the direction from which they’d come.

 

"Really? But you never mentioned it when you've met me and Naru at the arcade before," Usagi said, frowning slightly in confusion.

 

"Thus why I am also confused. If this was a Dark Kingdom base like the others we have encountered before, I would have sensed it long ago. However, I am only just now picking it up and _that_ is what confuses me," Luna said, pacing.

 

"Do you think it may have been someone who works for the Dark Kingdom, like Zoicite?" Usagi asked, trying to think of a solution that would make sense.

 

"Either that or it was one of the unawakened Shadow Warriors visiting the arcade. You didn't see anyone that resembled Zoicite at the arcade, did you?" Luna said, thinking aloud.

 

"Not that I noticed," Usagi confessed, thinking over who she had seen in the arcade. Truth be told, once she had engaged Makoto in a conversation, she had been too distracted to really notice the other people going in and out of the arcade.

 

"You weren't really looking, were you?" Luna asked.

 

"No. I mean, why would I? This is my time off and I needed to blow some steam now that the past school year’s finally finishing. I wasn't thinking about another attack," Usagi said in her own defense.

 

"Usagi, for future reference, at least keep yourself on the alert for possible enemies. For your sake and the sake of others," Luna said, sounding slightly exasperated.

 

"Yeah, I'll try, but no guarantees," Usagi replied.

 

Luna looked like she was about to make some sort of snarky retort when she froze and frowned. She tilted her head slightly, scanning the area.

 

Usagi frowned a little and asked, "Luna? What's wrong?"

 

The cat simply made a ‘follow me’ sign and led the way back onto the street before weaving her way through the crowd, Usagi attempting to keep up with her in the crowded street. It took a few minutes for her to realize that Luna was trailing a guy that was several years her senior. She recognized him from the arcade, having seen him around a few times; he always seemed to have crazy luck at the cherry picker games. Today was no exception, she thought as she noticed he was carrying a large white bag filled to the brim with plushes.

 

She wondered just why Luna was trailing him, of all people. She had never actually met the guy before but the stories from Naru all painted him as a really nice guy who usually used his strange luck with the cherry pickers to give toys to unfortunate kids. But then again, Luna had to have a reason for trailing the guy, right? Maybe he had gotten dragged into a Dark Kingdom plot by accident?

 

* * *

 

While they were waiting for the others to arrive for their meeting/training session, Usagi finally got a chance to talk about the strange events of earlier.

 

"Luna, what the heck was that this afternoon?"

 

"That boy was emitting faint traces of Dark Kingdom energy and I was trying to figure out how that was possible," Luna replied.

 

"Wait, what happened?" Naru asked curiously. She had decided to tag along to today's meeting now that school was out and she didn't have to worry about being up early in the morning.

 

"Luna detected traces of Dark Kingdom energy from the arcade earlier today and then led me along as we tracked the guy who is really good with the cherry picker for some reason," Usagi replied.

 

"You mean Crane Game Joe. He's one of the nicest guys around, why would he be admitting anything associated with the Dark Kingdom?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

 

"If he is who I think he is, then he is associated with the Dark Kingdom due to other circumstances and has not yet been recruited by Beryl and her followers," Luna said, pacing slightly again.

 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Usagi asked with a frown.

 

"I'll explain when the others arrive," Luna said in response.

 

"Well, it looks like we won't have to wait too much longer," Naru said, spotting the bright yellow sports car that belonged to Haruka pulling into the nearby parking lot.

 

Once they had resettled to their normal training clearing, Luna said, "Tonight we are probably not going to get around to training. I feel that I have something more important I need to talk to you three about, if my suspicions concerning the next set of Dark Kingdom plans are correct."

 

"History lesson time, then?" Usagi asked, taking a seat on a patch of the grass. If she was going to have to listen to Luna talk, she figured she might as well get comfortable. Judging by Haruka and Michiru's positions, they had similar thoughts.

 

"Correct. Now, I left this out initially because I was hoping that we wouldn't have to fight them, but I suspect that they have been reincarnated in humans as everyone else has been," Luna said.

 

Taking a deep breath, she launched into her story, "Long before they ever recruited the Shitennou to their side, the Dark Kingdom had a set of powerful warriors known simply as the Great Warriors. How long they have been around is unknown, but some speculated they were as old as the Dark Kingdom itself and had always reported solely to the Dark Kingdom's leader. But their full history is not what matters, what matters is that they are the Dark Kingdom's most powerful assets, second only to the Shitennou themselves."

"So are they youma or something?" Haruka asked, frowning.

 

"Youma, yes, but unlike the rest of the Dark Kingdom, which was sealed as one entity at the cost of Queen Serenity's life.  She chose a different route of action to dealing with the Great Warriors. You see, the Ginzuishou that the royal family wields is most powerful when together, but if the situation demands it can be broken into seven different crystals referred to as the Rainbow Crystals-.”

 

"Wait, if it can be broken into pieces, why did you have us looking for a whole crystal a few weeks ago at the D embassy?" Michiru asked.

 

It was funny to see how many different shades of red Luna could turn thanks to one simple question.

 

"Because I had forgotten that Queen Serenity had done this in that battle. Look, it was a very long time ago, details are sketchy in places, and I made a mistake. Besides, it wasn't the worst call considering Masato chose to target the princess, also thinking that she had the crystal."

 

When no one else raised another point she continued, "All right, so the Ginzuishou was broken apart to use as containers for the seven Great Warriors of the Dark Kingdom. Once they were sealed, they were supposed to have been scattered across the globe to areas where no humans were supposed to be able to find them. However-"

 

"That doesn't appear to have happened?" Usagi guessed, remembering Luna's reaction from earlier today.

 

"Precisely. For some strange reason, they seem to have been reincarnated in humans, which I didn't even know was possible until earlier today when we ran into this Joe. The Great Warriors being reincarnated as humans really complicates things," Luna said, frowning again.

 

"How were we going to retrieve the crystals, anyway? You were always going on about how the Ginzuishou was the key to finding the Moon Princess, yet if what you are saying is true, the keys would have been difficult to find. And then there is the matter of the youma," Haruka pointed out unhappily.

 

"It was honestly something that hadn't really occurred to me. As I said before, I forgot the Ginzuishou had been split up into separate pieces until today," Luna admitted.

 

"Anyway, if these people are holding the crystals we need so badly, how are we going to get them?  Thanks to Masato, we know the Dark Kingdom was working on some technology related to the crystals to try to revive the youma, but that still leaves some problems. Do we act as sitting ducks waiting for the Dark Kingdom to make the first move? And how do we find all of these people?" Usagi said, crossing her arms in frustration.

"Unfortunately, while right now I can identify possible Great Warriors from the Dark Kingdom aura they give off, I can't completely guarantee that it’s them. And I have no way of extracting the crystals, so we are going to have to rely on beating Zoicite in order to get them once he pulls them out, since I suspect he has a method of doing so," Luna said, sighing in frustration.

 

"That isn’t a particularly great plan. This could easily backfire," Michiru pointed out.

 

"I am well aware of that, thank you very much, but it is the only option we have. So starting tomorrow, Usagi, I want you trailing this Joe to see if you can find Zoicite. We need to be there if they attempt to revive the Great Warriors. I will continue to work on trying to identify the remaining six. Haruka and Michiru, I want you two with Usagi until I say otherwise, understood?" Luna said, deciding to end the conversation before it got more embarrassing for her.

 

After she received a confirmation she continued, "All right, it isn't too late yet. I want to do some light training. You girls know what to do."

 

Usagi grumbled lightly as she moved to comply. She hated the training but she had to admit it seemed like things were improving since Luna had begun their formal training.

 

* * *

 

"I still don't know what we are supposed to be looking for," Usagi grumbled as she and Naru tailed Joe from a distance.

 

"I think we are supposed to be looking more for Zoicite right now. She seemed to be pretty convinced that Joe was a container but didn't know about the others. She just wants us to tail him so we’re on the scene and you can get the crystal when Zoicite tries to awaken the Great Warrior," Naru replied.

 

"Yeah, I realize that, but look how long it took us to realize that Masato and Nephrite were one and the same? Who says that can't happen again with Zoicite?" Usagi pointed out.

 

"Masato seemed to imply that Zoicite wasn't one for recon missions, though, so when he makes his move it will probably not involve him dressing up in normal clothes," Naru replied.

 

"That is true. I just hope he doesn't try to change tactics now that Masato has flipped sides," Usagi said, a bit worried.

 

Any response that Naru might have said was cut off by sudden shrieking. Turning, they weren't too surprised to see Zoicite had indeed materialized and was now saying something to Joe. Usagi didn't look at her friend, simply saying, "Naru."

 

"On it," Naru said, pulling out her cell phone before moving out of range of the attack zone as Usagi ducked into a nearby alley to transform.

 

By the time she stepped out, she was surprised to see a familiar brunette engaged in distracting Zoicite. Joe appeared to be a bit too winded to run currently. She blinked a couple of times in surprise before saying, "Makoto?"

 

The brunette gave her a side glance but didn't reply. Usagi decided to use the opening she was given and helped Joe to his feet, gently pushing him in a direction that would hopefully move him away from the battlefield. She turned her attention back to Zoicite and Makoto.

 

"Get out of here now. I can handle it from here. Thank you for the assistance," she said.

"But-" Makoto began, hesitating somewhat.

 

"Go!" Usagi insisted. Makoto hesitated for a second before running off down the road, Usagi getting in Zoicite's way to keep him from pursuing the other girl.

 

"Tch. Nuisance," Zoicite said, teleporting away as quickly as he had appeared, not allowing Usagi a chance to ask questions.

 

* * *

 

"Are you sure Makoto isn't a senshi?" Usagi asked a couple of hours later.

 

They were once again tailing Joe, this time joined by Luna, Haruka, and Michiru. Luna had insisted they come along now that they had a sort of confirmation that Joe was a Rainbow Crystal holder, and thus by extension a former Great Warrior of the Dark Kingdom.

 

Of course the first question out of Usagi's mouth had been concerning Makoto, with her ability to keep up with Zoicite. They had yet to see any normal human keep pace with any of the Shitennou, after all.

 

"Look, I agree that isn't normal, but there are humans every once in a while who are perfectly capable of doing strange things on their own. She may very well just be one of those and not one a Senshi or an associate of the Dark Kingdom," Luna said, her tone taking an exasperated turn.

 

After a minute of silence she added, "And besides, I would know a Sailor Senshi if I came into contact with one. She is a normal teenage girl."

 

Any further discussion was cut off by Zoicite finally deciding to make another appearance, causing them to scatter quickly so they could get into uniform without being detected.

 

Or at least that's what Usagi hoped as she transformed into her senshi uniform, tossing her tiara at Zoicite as soon as she had a clear shot. She managed to hit him in the hand that was carrying the nearly emerged crystal. Haruka dove for it as Usagi was distracted by a roaring noise behind her. Whirling around, she saw where Joe had been standing was now a strange robot like creature that – from what Luna had told them over the last few days – was most likely the Great Warrior referred to as Gesen. Not the most powerful member of the Great Warrior group, but definitely a harder fight than what she and the other girls had ever fought before.

 

"Uranus, get the crystal somewhere safe! I'll take care of this nasty," Usagi commanded over her shoulder. Haruka was the fastest of them and thus could disappear into the forest before Zoicite had a chance of tracking her, she figured. If Haruka could get away and change back into her human form her before Zoicite found her, the rainbow crystal would be safe.

 

Haruka rushed off into the forest, Zoicite attempting to give chase.

 

"Neptune, we need to weaken it before I can possibly heal it and make it return to normal, and I need some assistance in weakening in. Feel like trying our combination attack again?" Usagi said quickly.

 

"One step ahead of you," Michiru said, moving her arms into position. Usagi removed her own tiara.

 

"On my cue?"

 

At Michiru's nod she said, "Then one, two, three!"

 

At the three, she released the tiara just as Michiru released her splash edge. The two attacks were enough to knock over the youma but they didn’t do much damage.

 

"What the? That should have done more damage!" Usagi complained, frowning.

 

"Didn't Luna mention that Gesen was electronic-based? Perhaps he has a natural resistance to water?" Michiru suggested as they dodged an attack from Gesen.

 

"I thought water normally fried electronics?" Usagi asked, wanting to scratch her head in confusion but not having the time.

 

"Normally, yes, but since when have youma had logical weaknesses and strengths?" Michiru pointed out.

 

"True," Usagi said with a sigh. After another set of dodged attacks, she turned to Michiru and asked, "So now what do we do? I’m not sure if I can pull off enough power to heal him in one go, plus we have to keep dodging attacks. We don't know if or when Uranus may show up again, and Pluto and Tuxedo Kamen have apparently chosen tonight of all nights to play the disappearing act."

 

"I think we are going to have to keep firing our attacks separately until you deem it damaged enough to try the mirror. It will take a while, but it’s the only thing I can think of," Michiru answered after contemplating their options for a moment.

 

"Okay, then let’s split. On my cue, you go right, I go left. Once we are out of range of those cords of his, we try again," Usagi said. It wasn't the best plan in the world but she was running low on options.

 

However, when the second set didn't have much damage Usagi was forced to improvise again.

 

"All right, change of plans. Neptune, I hate to ask this but I need you to play the distraction while I pour more energy into the mirror so I can get this in one quick shot. Do whatever you have to do, just get me the time I need, understood?"

 

Michiru moved to her front as she began to power up the mirror. She really hoped this would work, or else they would have to risk the crystal for Haruka's assistance – something she would rather not do after hearing Luna go on about the importance of the crystals.

 

Thankfully, Michiru had enough power to distract the Warrior and give her more than enough time to power up the mirror to a point where she was sure it would do great damage to Gesen.

 

And, once the Moon Healing Escalation attack was fired, it did exactly what it was supposed to.  Usagi let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding when Gesen disappeared and was replaced by Joe.

 

"Uh, is he okay?" she asked wearily.

 

"Yes, he should be fine," Michiru said after checking him over. She began moving toward a batch of trees only to stop as she noticed Usagi hadn’t moved. "We should probably get going if we don't want others drawing the wrong conclusions about what happened tonight."

 

"Oh, uh, right," Usagi said before following her.

 

_Thus_ _ends our first encounter with one of the Great Warriors Luna talked about. All things considered, I guess it could have gone worse. We at least took care of the youma, right? And we managed to escape with one of the crystals, in spite of the difficulties that entailed._

_Either way, Luna has begun instructing us in certain aspects of how youma work for future battles. I seriously wonder sometimes why she is hiding this. Yeah, she claims that she has a spotty memory on several Silver Millennium-related topics, but I can't help but wonder just how true some of that is._

_I am really starting to dislike that we are relying on her as our main source of information about Beryl attacks. It’s all a bit unnerving. If she is hiding pieces about the past, what else is she hiding?_

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now before I get a bunch of readers yelling at me for introing Mako but not Jupiter. Let me remind you I have stated prior that the inners are not awakening for a while. And Mako is not the first senshi from the inner group to pop up in the fic but not get her powers. Ami has show up a couple of times prior and will continue to do so before she awakes as Mercury.
> 
> Now that we got that out of the way. Next week's preview:
> 
> She slowly approached the duo, who were talking about possible ways to get out of there. Okay, so they weren't fully oblivious to the youma attack. That was good. She got within a few feet of them before she said, "Excuse me?"
> 
> That caused both of them to start and look around wildly. Luna sighed lightly before adding, "Down here."
> 
> "A talking cat?" the girl asked, identifying the source of the voice before her father.
> 
> "Fascinating," the man said, moving to pick her up. Luna decided to not allow him the chance, taking to the top of a nearby gravestone. She wasn't in the mood to be examined by overly curious humans at the moment.
> 
> "You're Luna, right? I remember reading about you in an article and you were in some of the photos with the senshi, weren't you?" the girl asked, eying her curiously.
> 
> "Yes, I am the senshi advisor," Luna said. Maybe those articles weren't such a bad thing if they were going to make waking the other senshi a bit less volatile.
> 
> "I thought Luna was human," the man said, frowning.
> 
> "Some of the more crazy articles mentioned that Luna had a chance to shape shift into different creatures. She did confirm she had a human form, but wouldn't go into much detail about it or any of her other abilities," the girl replied.
> 
> "Ah," he murmured.
> 
> "Anyway," Luna interjected at the pause, looking at the girl, "I am here because I sense that you are a Sailor Senshi and I want to ask if you are willing to join the fight against the Dark Kingdom?"
> 
> "I don't see how you can know for certain that Hotaru even is a senshi," the man said, getting the first word in as he finally gave a name to the girl.
> 
> "Let me explain. Each senshi gives off a slight signature even prior to their awakening that most humans can't detect but, as someone who is seeking out the senshi, I can identify. Your daughter is giving off that very signature," Luna explained.
> 
> "Dad, I will be fine. I promise," Hotaru said, giving her Dad a reassuring smile before turning her full attention to the cat. "So what exactly do I do?"
> 
> So yeah the thing I've been asked I think about a half dozen times at least when its going to happen. Its finally happening. See you next week with 17!


	17. Coming to Terms!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello from San Diego Comic Con!
> 
> Thankfully Juliemarie got me to this early so I was able to upload this to doc manager so I could publish this on time for you guys. So we are actually on schedule for now.Yeah!
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> To Light-Sakura, Eternal Love Song (hope you enjoyed the rest!), Sailor Tala, graceling42, Keyblade, rogue-scholar07, Puffgirl1952, LoveInTheBattleField, and Flash Devil for the reviews. To Eternal Love Song for the fav and story alert. To AuroraMoon for leaving kudos on AO3. To Kiraya831 and AuroraMoon for bookmarking it on AO3. And as always a thanks to all the unknown readers.
> 
> All right enough of my rambles. It's time for Chapter 17. And the long awaited debut of Saturn!

Chapter 17: Coming to Terms!

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today the two year anniversary came. It's hard to believe it really has been that long since my life changed so much and I lost you. Of course_ , _Zoicite being the_ , _uh_ , _mean person that he is_ , _couldn't even leave us alone during the one day out of the year that I wanted my peace..._

"Usagi, are you sure about this?" her mother questioned. It had been a couple of days since their fight with the first of the Great Warriors, Gesen. They were waiting outside of the train station; her parents were going to be catching the Shinkansen to head back up north to their home town.

The second year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that had changed her life forever was fast approaching. Her parents were leaving to go to up Sendai for the anniversary this year. This would be the first time any of them had gone anywhere near where everything had changed for them since they had moved to Tokyo. Last year they had spent the afternoon at Shingo's grave, while Usagi – who had refused to go anywhere near the grave – spent the day with Naru. She had simply not been able to look her parents in the eye.

"Mom, I'll be fine. I'm just going to stay at Naru's house again and maybe visit his grave on the anniversary. Look, I can handle myself. I'll be fine. I've got Naru, Haruka, and Michiru to support me over the next few days," Usagi said, giving them a smile to try and reassure them.

"I guess you're right. Just be careful for now, okay?" her mom requested, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I will. With any luck, the anniversary will be a peaceful one since we haven't been able to find any hints of what we're supposed to be looking for," Usagi responded.

"I hope so, too," her mom said. Any other conversation was cut off as they heard a reminder that the train was going to be pulling in soon. Her mom gave a sigh.

"I guess we have to go now. Take care of yourself?"

"Will do. See you this weekend," Usagi said, giving her a hug. Her mom returned the hug before pulling back, giving Usagi one last smile then turning and going through the turnstiles. Usagi watched her go until she could no longer see her before heading back to where she knew Haruka and Michiru were waiting.

"Thanks for coming along," Usagi said from the backseat of the convertible.

"It's not a problem. It's what friends are for, right?" Haruka replied.

"Nonetheless, I appreciate it. Make a right here," Usagi said, giving them a slight smile. She had been tense for the last couple of days as the anniversary had approached, most of her nights filled with nightmares. It had gotten particularly bad last night as she dealt with everything from the events surrounding the quake to Shingo, blaming herself for his death. That was one of her biggest fears in recent years.

* * *

She could practically sense the other girls' surprise when they pulled up to an old Catholic Church. It was one of the few standing here in Tokyo, but her Mom had wanted Shingo to be buried there. Usagi was technically a third-generation Japanese-American. Her maternal great-grandmother had moved from the west coast before her grandmother was even born to settle in Japan. Her great-grandmother had carried over some of her childhood traditions from the USA and had influenced her grandmother with them, thus indirectly influenced her mother. Her Mom mostly followed Japanese traditions, but one thing she had insisted on – for reasons she had never really explained to Usagi or her Dad. – was for Shingo to be buried at a Catholic graveyard after the earthquake.

There was brief period of silence as the girls got out of the car. Usagi took the lead, knowing the path to her brother's grave all too well. It was few minutes filled with nothing but silence before anyone bothered to talk.

"So this is where you guys buried him," Haruka said eventually.

"Yeah, why?" Usagi asked, turning to the older girl with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Nothing. Just a bit unusual to see someone buried in a Catholic graveyard," Haruka said holding her arms in a defensive manner.

"Yeah, well, Mom is Catholic and was rather persistent that he be buried according to her traditions," Usagi said with a shrug.

"I'm surprised they didn't come," Michiru said in a quiet voice, but Usagi heard her anyway.

"They wanted to visit the memorial in Sendai then drop by our old hometown."

"Really I'm surprised you didn't go back with them," Haruka voiced.

"I thought about it, but I'm just not quite ready to go back there yet. Maybe in a year or two, but not this year," Usagi admitted as they continued down the path.

"What did you do last year?" Haruka asked, kind of curious. In return, she earned an elbow in the side from Michiru.

"Stayed at home with Naru. I didn't want to be around my parents on the anniversary and I wasn't ready to visit the grave at that point," Usagi admitted, turning to face both girls as they reached the top of a hill.

"If you don't mind answering, when did you come for the first time?" Michiru asked curiously.

"About eight months ago. My parents thought I hadn't gone long enough and my therapist at the time was convinced that I was going to long without acknowledging Shingo's death," Usagi replied after a few minutes of thinking. Turning around, she continued down the well-worn path that she knew led to her brother's grave.

Haruka and Michiru exchanged a glance behind her back. They may not have known the girl very long, but they were surprised that she had been coming for that long. Considering how many issues Usagi seemed to have at the moment, their first inclination had been that she had only been visiting for maybe a couple of months, at most.

They eventually came to a stop in front of simple grave with nothing really fancy other than a nice design surrounding the overall tomb marker. It read 'Shingo Tsukino, b. May 20, 2001 - d March 11, 2011. Beloved brother, friend, and son. May you rest in peace.' Usagi shifted slightly so she could get on her knees and placed some flowers in the available pot.

The older girls kept their distance, just watching over to make sure nothing happened while Usagi spoke, "Hey, little brother. Hard to believe it's been two years now, huh? I hope you are doing okay, wherever you are. Mom and Dad are doing okay for the most part. They went up to Sendai this year for the first time since the quake and they are going to drop by our old hometown on the way home tomorrow. I know I should come and visit more often but sometimes that is easier said than done.

"You, of course, remember Naru. I made two new friends since my last visit. They've been absolutely great for me and are the first friends I made since I moved to Tokyo that couldn't care less about my legs. It's nice to know that not everyone is like Takeshi back at school," Usagi said, tracing one of the engravings on the stone with an index finger before pulling it back.

As Usagi rambled on, paying her respects to her dead brother, Luna found herself distracted by a familiar feeling. She frowned as she glanced around the graveyard, feeling the familiar pull of planetary power. That in and of itself was not so unusual considering the company she currently kept but, instead of the three pulls she expected to feel from the other girls, she felt a strange fourth pull. She decided to investigate the origin of the fourth power, leaving Usagi and the others at the grave. Weaving her way in and out of the various grave markers, it took her a little while longer than she had expected to find the source of the power.

* * *

It appeared to be a young pre-teen girl with short purple hair. She frowned slightly; this definitely didn't seem right. From what she knew about the senshi all of them would be at least 14, yet there was no denying that this girl was an unawakened senshi, judging by her power levels. Maybe she reincarnated later than the other girls? That was the only reasoning that made sense at the moment. And it wasn't like it could be anyone else. The only other person with her appeared to be her father, and all senshi were female, so that meant the girl was definitely a senshi.

Luna's frown deepened. Maybe she could consider waiting on awakening her? She still had a few days, hopefully, to track down the remaining senshi before Zoicite made his next move. Besides, if she awoke her without taking everything into consideration, Usagi would read her the riot act. Either away, she wouldn't approach the girl yet. She might tail her home later so she could gather more information about the possible newest member of the senshi team, though.

This would take some careful consideration she realized as she rejoined the other girls.

"So what was that all about?" Usagi addressed the cat curiously.

Luna paused for a second, checking to see if someone could overhear them. The graveyard was mostly empty at the moment and the younger girl was far enough from them that she shouldn't overhear them. After a second, she turned back to the girls and said, "I may have detected Saturn."

"Well, that's good. Isn't it?" Michiru asked.

"Normally, yes," Luna said in response.

"I'm sensing a 'but' here. What's so bad about finding a teammate?" Haruka said, frowning some.

"She is a bit young to be a Senshi," Luna explained.

""How young do you mean?" Michiru asked.

"Maybe a year or two Usagi's junior. She isn't that much younger, but it's a bit unusual from what I can remember," Luna said.

"I don't really like this," Usagi said.

"I understand that and it's a bit controversial, but we need more senshi at this moment more than ever," Luna said with a sigh.

"And you don't have any leads on any of the other senshi?" Haruka asked, just wanting to check.

"No, which is a bit frustrating. Saturn is the first lead I've had in weeks," Luna answered.

Haruka and Michiru exchanged glances before Michiru said, "We're not exactly in favor of this, but we could use the additional help against the Great Warriors."

"Are you suggesting that we go ahead and wake her?" Luna said.

"No, let's give her an option," Usagi said, breaking into the conversation.

"Usagi-" Luna began in protest.

"Look, you've mentioned that there are nine senshi and you've only been able to find five of us so far if you, counting Pluto showing up on her own accord. We still have time to find the other four before we try to take Beryl down, right? So let's actually _ask_  the girl that is Saturn if she is interested in joining the fight rather than forcing it on her. If she doesn't, we can always return to her in a few years if we need to," Usagi suggested.

Luna frowned, thinking over the suggestion for a minute before replying, "That might work, but if we can't find the other girls we will be forced to return to her and ask her to join our fight regardless. Understood?"

"I am fine with that; I would just prefer that we give her the option. What about you girls?" Usagi asked the older girls.

"It sounds like a good idea," Michiru replied, Haruka nodding her head in agreement

"All right, then I will go talk to her when I get a chance," Luna said. She then disappeared back the way from which she had come.

* * *

Luna didn't make it too far when a loud yell attracted her attention. Turning around, she saw a very familiar ponytailed figure. Great, just great. It was looking less like she would get a chance to actually ask if the girl would join rather than force it. She just hoped she found the girl before she fled. Dodging between gravestones, she looked for the girl she had seen earlier. While the others were holding their own right now for the most part, the more help they could have, the better. And, if this girl indeed was one of the Sailor Senshi, it was her duty to wake her.

She found them not too far from where she had left them, but she realized that she had no way of getting the girl's father out of there. She needed to talk to this girl about her abilities now rather than later.

As much as she would rather not have yet another human on the list of people who were aware of the senshi's identities, it looked like she wasn't going to have much say in the matter. Then again, having Usagi's parents in the loop had turned out to be more profitable than she ever thought it could be. Maybe this situation could turn out the same?

She slowly approached the duo, who were talking about possible ways to get out of there. Okay, so they weren't fully oblivious to the youma attack. That was good. She got within a few feet of them before she said, "Excuse me?"

That caused both of them to start and look around wildly. Luna sighed lightly before adding, "Down here."

"A talking cat?" the girl asked, identifying the source of the voice before her father.

"Fascinating," the man said, moving to pick her up. Luna decided to not allow him the chance, taking to the top of a nearby gravestone. She wasn't in the mood to be examined by overly curious humans at the moment.

"You're Luna, right? I remember reading about you in an article and you were in some of the photos with the senshi, weren't you?" the girl asked, eying her curiously.

"Yes, I am the senshi advisor," Luna said. Maybe those articles weren't such a bad thing if they were going to make waking the other senshi a bit less volatile.

"I thought Luna was human," the man said, frowning.

"Some of the more crazy articles mentioned that Luna had a chance to shape shift into different creatures. She did confirm she had a human form, but wouldn't go into much detail about it or any of her other abilities," the girl replied.

"Ah," he murmured.

"Anyway," Luna interjected at the pause, looking at the girl, "I am here because I sense that you are a Sailor Senshi and I want to ask if you are willing to join the fight against the Dark Kingdom?"

"I don't see how you can know for certain that Hotaru even is a senshi," the man said, getting the first word in as he finally gave a name to the girl.

"Let me explain. Each senshi gives off a slight signature even prior to their awakening that most humans can't detect but, as someone who is seeking out the senshi, I can identify. Your daughter is giving off that very signature," Luna explained.

"Dad, I will be fine. I promise," Hotaru said, giving her Dad a reassuring smile before turning her full attention to the cat. "So what exactly do I do?"

"Are you sure you want to do this? Once you take the bracelet, there is no going back from your commitment to fight the Dark Kingdom and any other possible enemies that come in their wake," Luna asked, making sure to emphasize the fact there was no turning back. If she didn't, she would never hear the end of it from Usagi.

Hotaru paused before saying, "Yes, I'm sure about this."

"All right, then take this bracelet. Put it on your right wrist, then swipe your hand in front of the large center gem and say 'Saturn Power Make Up!' That will activate the transformation sequence," Luna instructed, glad the girl was going to help. She quickly back flipped to retrieve the bracelet, placing it in front of the girl.

Even though she felt her tail twitching greatly, every instinct screamed the same thing since she had pulled out the transformation bracelet: something wasn't quite right here. Like a Sailor Saturn wasn't supposed to exist, but that didn't make any sense to her logically.

Hotaru took the purple bracelet after hesitating briefly and slipped it on her wrist. She took a second glance at the odd scene playing out in front of her but chose to not question it but to assist like she had been requested to as she swiped her right hand over the bracelet and said, "Saturn Power Make Up!"

They arrived in time to catch Usagi finishing up one of her speeches, "For defiling this day that is important to so many, you will be punished in the name of the moon and everyone else who lost their life two years ago!"

Luna saw Hotaru blink a couple of times in confusion.

"Today has some personal connections for Sailor Moon. I won't go into further details since it's more of her story to tell, but to say the least she probably quite angry that Zoicite chose to launch an attack today of all days."

"Ah. So, what now?" Hotaru asked in response.

"Hang back until I give you the signal. If we can take the youma by surprise, all the better," Luna said before moving so she could see the battlefield better.

Usagi was facing Zoicite and the newest Great Warrior, with Haruka and Michiru flanking her left and ride sides, respectively, as usual. Luna briefly wondered who was today's Great Warrior, as the selection was a bit limited considering the graveyard was mostly empty at the moment. While there had been some other families visiting those lost in the quake, most people were elsewhere since most victims had been buried in a traditional Japanese families.

She could see Haruka beginning to power up another Spiral Buster, obviously hoping to knock the Rainbow Crystal Zoicite had managed to obtain during their absence out of his hands. However, Michiru stopped her with a simple shake of the head, making a motion at the surrounding gravestones. Haruka let out a small 'tch' before powering down the attack rather reluctantly.

Luna frowned for a second before deciding to return to Hotaru, a plan forming. Zoicite had no clue they had added a new team member, so they could take him by surprise. Once she returned to the girl, she made a motion for her to squat.

"Slight change of plans. We are going to try to sneak up on Zoicite from the behind and knock out the crystal from his hand," Luna said.

"I am not so sure I have that kind of physical strength," Hotaru admitted.

"You don't need it. I need you to feel within your subspace pocket. In there you should feel a large stick-like object with sickle on top," Luna instructed.

"Like a glaive?" Hotaru said, blinking a couple of times. Luna  _had_  explained a couple of things on their way over.

"Precisely. I want you to pull it out, then I'll explain what we are going to do from there," Luna said, nodding as emphasis.

After a short while of Hotaru making some faces and feeling around the pocket, she found the requested item. Pulling it out, she realized it was rather large, probably taller than her honestly.

Turning back to Luna, she asked, "What now?"

"All right, we are going to quickly crawl along until we are behind Zoicite. I need you to keep that glaive close to the ground until we get there. Once there, I want you to try smacking the crystal from his grasped hand," Luna explained.

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea, but how am I supposed to know when I'm behind him?" Hotaru asked, frowning slightly.

"I will give you a signal. From there, you will stand up slowly as not to attract any attention. Once you have enough room to maneuver, you swing the glaive, understood?" Luna said as she moved to lead the girl in the correct direction.

"Yes," Hotaru said, lowering herself enough to remain unseen by both sides.

Meanwhile, Haruka was trying to figure out how to knock the crystal out of Zoicite's hands without using her attack. Considering their vicinity to the gravestones, they had to consider the possibility of some of them being destroyed. Not that they couldn't easily pay for them, but they weren't too far from Usagi's brothers grave and she would rather not damage something that was sacred to Usagi, even if it was with the best intentions.

Usagi's attention was currently too diverted by the youma to think about the fact that Zoicite had an item they needed. They had a small window of time that was closing rapidly before Zoicite returned to wherever their base was, so she would have to act now, she realized. Making a slight motion at Michiru, she indicated to keep the Warrior busy while she tried to knock the crystal out of Zoicite's hand.

Michiru got the message with a slight nod, turning her full attention to the youma. Haruka mentally counted to five before beginning to sprint at Zoicite, mentally thanking track training. Zoicite must have sensed her, however, because he whirled around and out of her path of attack. She somersaulted out of the run, turning just in time to see Zoicite disappear, crystal in hand. Crap.

From somewhere behind her, she heard Luna say, "Crap! Change of plans. Stand up and attack now."

Haruka frowned, turning toward Luna's voice just in time to see a short, purple-haired girl stand up with a glaive in hand, of all things. Huh, so apparently she had agreed to be Saturn after all, she realized as she saw a purple-colored ball not similar in appearance to her own Spiral Buster form as Saturn said, "Silence Glaive Surprise!"

Haruka scrambled to her feet just in time to see the purple ball slam into the boxing-gloved, winged, human-like youma from the side, knocking it over. She saw Usagi and Michiru jump and look around in surprise before Usagi went for her mirror again. The first attempt had been a dud, but she was obviously trying to take care of the youma before anything got damaged, Haruka realized.

She noticed Michiru place a hand on Usagi's right arm, obviously trying to lend some energy to help power the attack. After a couple of seconds, Michiru started frowning at something. Haruka briefly wondered what was troubling her since there wasn't too much that could go wrong with an energy transfer.

Haruka saw the youma about to launch another attack. She went to retaliate with an attack of her own, but both were surprised when Saturn appeared seemingly out of nowhere, holding her glaive so it was preventing the youma from moving its arms. That, of course, still left the legs open, but at least it couldn't attack without throwing itself off balance now.

Finally, after a few moments that seemed to last an eternity, the monster finally reverted back to its human form. She heard Usagi let out a sigh of relief at the sight. Usagi stood there, eyes closed for some reason, and Michiru's frown had deepened.

"We need to get out of here," Haruka said after a second. The priest was still out for the count at the moment, but who knew how much longer that would last for. Plus, it looked like Usagi needed a long nap.

"I actually need to find my dad. I left him behind when I followed Luna to the battle," Saturn confessed.

"Well, we need to at least get you somewhere private to get out of uniform. As people realize the battle has ended, they will begin to return to look for the senshi, and I would rather not have someone find out anyone's identity by accident," Luna said.

The girls parted ways shortly after they had taken care of the problem. Hotaru wanted to contemplate what she had been brought into on her own and Usagi wanted to pay one last set of respects to her younger brother before she left the grave. Today had been far more eventful than anticipated, but at least that was one less Great Warrior they had to worry. The sun was setting by the time they finally left the graveyard, Usagi climbing into the backseat. It only took her a few minutes to doze off, being as exhausted as she was.

 _"_ Luna, for goodness's sake, leave her be and give her a break. This was a very exhausting day for her, even moreso than normal. Let her handle herself for now," Michiru said, frowning at the cat when she noticed the look the way Luna was eying Usagi's sleeping form as they drove down the road.

"But-" Luna began.

"Look, we know you are trying to look out for the good of all of mankind, but if you run your strongest member ragged you'll find yourself one man short right when you are claiming we need the manpower most to deal with these Great Warriors. Back off for a couple of days, we can handle her duty for that long. If Zoicite decides to appear again then we can bring her back, but just leave her and Naru alone for a few days," Haruka said.

"I guess we can do that for now, but I still have final say in whether or not a battle requires us needing to pull her back in," Luna gave in after thinking for a couple of minutes.

_So with Saturn now awakened_ _,_ _Luna says_ _she doesn't think anyone_ _else will be joining the group anytime soon_ _; not unless_ _we have some_ _more_ _surprise visitors like Pluto._

_The age of Saturn does concern me_ _,_ _though. I mean_ _,_ _she is younger than I am by about two_ _years_ _. I really don't want to drag someone who is still practically a child_ _into this,_ _but I have little say in the matter at this point. I just hope we don't come to regret this._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And that's a wrap for this chapter. Uh not that much to say here this week. 18 is currently in the doc manager and will be on time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and Hotaru's intro. And here's next week preview:
> 
> "This feels too weird," Luna muttered to herself as they reached the entrance. A human form she had done before and was most comfortable with, besides that of a cat. While she was more than capable of taking other forms, she just didn't do it on a regular basis. To take the form that was considered the opposite of what she normally kept was just odd.
> 
> "Yeah, well, this was the only solution, so you might want to get used to it," Usagi said in response. It was definitely odd to see Luna as a Labrador-sized dog, but this way they could say she was her service dog.
> 
> "Why would I need to do that?" Luna asked unhappily.
> 
> "I think it might be a good idea to get you a full certification, that way we can bring you into possible attacks without having to sneak you in or draw unwanted attention," Usagi replied.
> 
> "Do we have too?" Luna groaned. She really didn't like the thought of having to be a dog for hours on end.
> 
> "I don't feel like lying through my teeth every time we take you somewhere that doesn't allow pets, so yes," Usagi said.
> 
> See you next week with 18!


	18. Painting the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hello everybody! I am back from Comic Con and mostly recovered from four amazing days of craziness. And so yeah its a bit late today but its still on time so here is 18!
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> First off a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed over the past few months over on . We officially hit 100 reviews and over 11,000 hits! Hard to believe. Keep it up guys I appreciate the support!
> 
> To Sailor Tala, Light-Sakura, Keyblade, rogue-scholar07, LoveInTheBattlefield, Eternal Love Song (okay technically Chapter 13, but you were with the last batch, hope you continue to review!), and Puffgirl1952 for the reviews. To Nozomi69 thanks for the fav and the follow. And to deborah diskey thanks for the fav! And as always a shout out to my unknown readers.
> 
> Anyways enough of my rambling enjoy Chapter 18!

Chapter 18: Painting the Past

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today's attack brought something_ _to_ _my attention. Even though it seems weird and a bit_ _unlikely_ _, and_ _we aren't even sure if what this girl was painting is actually real_ _,_ _nonetheless there_ _appears to be an uncanny resemblance_ _between me_ _and the moon princess..._

"This is odd," Michiru said, scanning through their mail. They still had an hour or so before they had to be at Naru's house for the meeting, so they were just getting cleaned up and grabbing the mail before heading out to Juuban. It was fairly benign compared to the things they had seen since becoming senshi, but still.

"Something happen, Michi?" Haruka asked, reentering the room, finally ready to go.

"You need to see this," she said, simply handing over the flyer. She watched Haruka's eyebrows climb skyward as she scanned the flyer.

"You don't think it's connected to the Moon Kingdom Luna keeps mentioning, do you?" Haruka asked.

"Honestly, after everything else that has happened since January, I would be more surprised if it wasn't. Either way, we should show this to Luna. Considering she knows what the Moon Kingdom actually looks like, she might have an idea whether or not this is actually connected," Michiru said, taking the flyer back and putting it in her bag.

"Have you even heard of this artist?" Haruka asked curiously. She had a hard time remembering half the people Michiru had introduced in passing, honestly.

"Heard of her, yes; met her, no. She has only done one or two art shows so far. None of them were on this subject matter, from what I remember," Michiru said, frowning slightly at the thought. Though truth be told she would haven't really put much thought into something revolving around what would have been considered a fantasy just a few short months ago. So it was possible the artist had done something on the subject prior but she didn't remember it.

* * *

Luna frowned when she was presented the flyer later that afternoon, scanning it over a few times.

"How did you guys get the flyer anyway?" Usagi asked.

"I paint and occasionally my pieces will go in galleries with other artists, so I sometimes get notices about new galleries like this one," Michiru said in response.

"Well it's a good thing you did. This might give us a lead on the princess, or at least on the next Rainbow Crystal holder," Luna said after giving the flyer one last look.

"So it's legit?" Haruka questioned in surprise.

"It's either that or the painter has a very interesting imagination," Luna answered. She tapped her paw on the building behind the two silhouetted figures in the flyer's featured painting. "See this building here? That's the Moon Kingdom Palace. These two are standing in the front part of the palace. There are some details missing, but enough matches up here that I would say this is definitely the old palace."

"What about the two figures?" Hotaru asked curiously, picking up on the fact that she hadn't mentioned the rest of the painting.

"Well, the female figure appears to be a member of the Lunar Royal Family. The male figure, however… I am not sure who he is supposed to be. Judging by the dress, he is someone of high class but that could be just about anyone, admittedly," Luna said, frowning slightly as she took a second look at the figures.

"Honestly, I would like to see it with my own eyes to get a better idea of the realism of the painting, which means I'll probably have to go as a human," she concluded.

"Yeah, slight problem with that. While people haven't seen you in human form that often, there's still a chance that someone could recognize you then put two and two together and figure out who the rest of us are," Usagi pointed out.

Luna groaned slightly before asking Michiru, "Do you think they would let a cat in?"

"We could try, but it is doubtful. Unless…" Michiru said, thinking over their options.

"Unless, what?" Luna asked.

"You said you could shape shift into other forms, didn't you? What else can you take the shape of?"

"To a certain extent, yes," Luna said.

"Then there might be a way," Michiru said as they turned their attention to planning how to go about this.

* * *

The next afternoon, the group arrived at the gallery not long after school let out. They had to get a bit creative, but they had found a way to get Luna in to the art show. Hopefully no one would press too much, since they didn't exactly have the right certification, if they saw Usagi's condition.

"This feels too weird," Luna muttered to herself as they reached the entrance. A human form she had done before and was most comfortable with, besides that of a cat. While she was more than capable of taking other forms, she just didn't do it on a regular basis. To take the form that was considered the opposite of what she normally kept was just odd.

"Yeah, well, this was the only solution, so you might want to get used to it," Usagi said in response. It was definitely odd to see Luna as a Labrador-sized dog, but this way they could say she was her service dog.

"Why would I need to do that?" Luna asked unhappily.

"I think it might be a good idea to get you a full certification, that way we can bring you into possible attacks without having to sneak you in or draw unwanted attention," Usagi replied.

"Do we have too?" Luna groaned. She really didn't like the thought of having to be a dog for hours on end.

"I don't feel like lying through my teeth every time we take you somewhere that doesn't allow pets, so yes," Usagi said.

Any further response was cut off by the others' arrival.

* * *

"Oh, wow!"

Usagi looked up at the voice in surprise. They had managed to get Luna in with no problem, thankfully, but that didn't stop Usagi from getting worried about someone making a comment.

She found herself face to face with some lady she didn't recognize looking her over, seeming to be checking something.

"Um, hi?" Usagi said after a second.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Noriko Mastushia. I work with Yumemi Yumeno as an agent of sorts," she said, finally introducing herself.

"Oh, uh, nice to meet you. Is there something I can help you with?" Usagi said, recognizing the name of the artist who had done the paintings that had led them there in the first place.

"Actually, yes. You see, Yumemi is looking for some models to help with her next set of paintings, but everyone we have presented to her so far she has rejected," she explained.

"And what does that got to do with me?" Usagi asked, frowning slightly. This seriously couldn't be going with this where she thought she was going.

"Well, you kind of bear a resemblance to the girl in the painting. I was wondering if you would be willing to give Yumemi a hand?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess I wouldn't mind as long as I can bring my service dog," Usagi said after a second of thought, making a motion at Luna. It could definitely be helpful even if the lady wasn't one of the Great Warriors.

"I don't see why not as long as it is kept away from the artwork. We don't want any damage done to the works in progress," she said after considering Usagi's words.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that she doesn't do any damage to the artwork," Usagi said, giving her a slight smile.

"All right, then please go to this address tomorrow afternoon," she said, handing over a business card. They exchanged some more pleasantries before she disappeared back into the crowd from whence she had come.

Flipping it over a couple of time, Usagi looked at the info. The place wasn't too far from where Haruka and Michiru supposedly lived; maybe she could get a ride from them? She stuffed the card into her bag before turning back to the painting she and Luna had been looking at before.

"Well, this is turning out to be more productive than I thought it would be," she said.

* * *

The following afternoon, Usagi stood in front of some sort of apartment building with Luna in her dog form at her side. Haruka and Michiru had provided the ride from Juuban, pointing out some of the local landmarks on the way. Hotaru had piped up a few times, but had mostly kept to herself. Usagi had been dropped off in front of a fairly discreet house after promising to give a call once she was done. She watched the car drive off before going up to the house and ringing the doorbell. A lady in her twenties opened the door, giving her the once over but not saying anything.

"Um, hi, Noriko Mastushia sent me as a possible model for your paintings?" Usagi said, breaking the silence.

"I figured as much. I'm Yumemi Yumeno," the woman replied after a second.

"Usagi Tsukino. So, can I be of any help?" Usagi asked.

"Yes, actually, I think you can. Come in," she said, finally opening the door wide enough to allow her in. Usagi stepped inside a slightly narrow hallway as Yumemi closed the door.

"If you follow me, I'll show you the way to the studio," she said, politely maneuvering to her front. Where they ended up was a well lit room mostly empty minus a few props and, much to her surprise, a very familiar figure.

"You? What are you doing here?" Usagi asked. Her encounters with Mamoru – whose name she had eventually found out from Motoki, the guy that Naru that had gone on about before she had met Masato – had been brief but always nerve-grating, so she did her best to give him a wide berth.

"I should ask you the same, Odango-atama," he responded.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that," Usagi snapped.

"More times than I can count," he replied.

"Then can you stop? Have you ever thought there might be a reason why I don't like being called that?" Usagi said, trying to reign in her temper.

"You two know each other?" Yumeno asked in surprise, looking back and forth between the two, effectively breaking up their argument. She had just entered the room now, having gone to get some supplies during the argument.

"Only in passing," Usagi said quickly. And she would prefer to keep it that way. She would rather not to interact with someone who apparently couldn't respect her personal wishes.

"All right. Anyway, I need you to change into this dress if possible," Yumeno said, deciding not to press and instead tossing her the dress that she had seen the female wearing in the paintings.

* * *

"Anything?" Michiru inquired a few – very awkward – hours later.

"I have no clue. I spent the last four hours posing awkwardly with a guy I don't even like," Usagi complained. Most of the things that Yumeno had been working on apparently had been romantic in nature and she wanted them to come back tomorrow for some more posing. She wasn't looking forward to that. "Luna?"

"I couldn't pick up anything from her house, so I may just stay in the bag tomorrow and see if I can pick up anything from her," Luna replied.

"Who was the fellow model?" Haruka asked, raising an eyebrow in question and choosing to ignore the lack of information on the painter thus far.

"The idiot that can't respect my personal choices," Usagi grumbled.

"Chiba-san?" Michiru asked to clarify. While the older girls had yet to actually meet him, they both had listened to Usagi complain about him on several occasions.

"You know, if you just told him why you don't want anyone using that nickname, he might stop," Haruka said at Usagi's confirmation.

"I realize that, but he should also back off when someone tells him that the reason is personal, yet he doesn't," Usagi retorted.

"You never explained to any of us why you hate it, though. Well, Naru seems to know, but that's probably because she's known you for so long," Michiru pointed out.

"My brother used to call me it," Usagi finally said after a few minutes. It was said so quietly that they almost missed it.

"Oh," Haruka said simply.

There really wasn't much else that could be said; it certainly explained why Usagi was so vehemently against the use of the nickname. With most of her material items revolving around Shingo washed away by the tsunami, it was probably one of the last things that she could really claim as being her brother's, as silly as it sounded.

* * *

By the time they were finally done, Luna had dozed off. Usagi picked up the bag, jolting Luna awake as she turned to Yumeno.

"So I can't really make it at our normal time tomorrow because of class. Is it okay if I come over in the late afternoon instead?" she asked. Luna rubbed her head slightly as she waited for a response as she heard them make their way to the exit.

"Yeah, just get here the first chance you get," the painter answered.

There were some pleasantries exchanged before Usagi slipped out the door, dialing Haruka's phone number in the meantime. After saying she needed a ride, she let Luna out.

"Well, did you get anything out of just sitting in my bag?" Usagi asked

Luna shook her head before replying, "No. Well, I was able to pick up enough of a signature to confirm that she is a reincarnated Great Warrior, but beyond that I'm not sure."

"And without our own way of getting the crystal, we're sitting ducks until Zoicite finally shows up," Usagi muttered to herself. There was a brief lapse of silence before she added, "Hey, Luna, could I use the mirror to heal her while she is still human?"

Luna frowned, thinking it over before replying, "Maybe, I'm not entirely sure. I have to check something first and I would prefer the other girls be with you before you try that for the first time, but it might not be impossible."

"Well, check on it because I really don't want to have to wait around for Zoicite to show up every time we discover a crystal carrier," Usagi said.

* * *

It was a couple of days before Luna got back to Usagi about her enquiry, the cat opting out of going to see the withdrawn painter while trying to figure out if what Usagi had asked was possible. Their window of opportunity was beginning to close. Yumeno seemed to be finishing up her sketches that she was going to use for the next set of paintings, so Usagi expected to have only a day or two more before their only chance to get a rainbow crystal would be lost.

"Lunaaa, when we are going to do something? We are running out of time to make a move before Zoicite's here!" Usagi said while waiting for her ride.

"I am well aware of that," Luna answered.

"So? Are we going to do anything today or am I just going to stand around and pose for her again?" Usagi asked.

"I really would prefer if the other girls would come in and help-" Luna began.

"I kind of doubt Yumeno would go for that," Usagi interrupted.

"I know and therein lies the problem. Look, can't you just ask her? I don't want questions being raised if Chiba is there and you suddenly overdo it with your magic and faint," Luna said.

"That can happen?" Usagi asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"If you overdo it too much, yes. And, considering you are still inexperienced with healing spells, this is very likely to happen by accident," Luna said, causing Usagi to frown

"All right, I'll see if they can tag along but no promises."

"That's all I ask. If they can't come than I say go ahead on doing it on your own."

"Just out of curiosity, what exactly am I supposed to do if we go ahead with this?" Usagi asked after a brief pause.

"Basically, you will cast a Moon Healing Escalation like normal. It should draw out the crystal without any repercussions if everything goes well," Luna said.

"And if everything doesn't?"

"Then we are going to have to fight another Great Warrior," Luna said after a moment.

* * *

"Luna, slight problem," Usagi said as they reentered the changing room after they were done. While Yumeno had been a bit reluctant at first, she had allowed the other girls to tag along.

"What now?" the cat said, getting out of the bag.

"She's going to realize who we are," Usagi said in response.

"The magic-"

"Doesn't prevent people with common sense from connecting the dots, Luna. We've been the only people to come into the house in the last few hours. If a bunch of Senshi who bear some resemblance to us suddenly appear, she will likely figure out our real identities," Michiru said, catching on to what Usagi was saying. They had followed her in on the excuse of needing some help getting out of the dress.

Luna frowned slightly before saying, "As I said before, I have ways of erasing certain memories if need be. If it comes to that, I can easily do so to guarantee that she doesn't realize she encountered the senshi. On the other hand, she could very well dismiss it. Just say that you had business with her that needed to be discussed in private and you already escorted the 'other' girls out."

"Not sure if that will work, but I guess it's worth a shot," Usagi said after a second of thinking.

"Okay, then, Usagi, you need to get out of the dress so you can henshin," Luna said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it," Usagi said as she began the process of removing the dress, thanking whatever deity was out there for Mamoru having already left, before quickly throwing on her street clothes for when she finished her senshi duties. Haruka and Michiru took the opportunity to henshin. Because Hotaru was too inexperienced at the energy transfer to be of any use, she had been told to stay home for now. Once dressed appropriately, Usagi eagerly henshioned.

Once the girls were ready, Luna slipped out the door first, followed by Usagi.

Yumeno looked up from a piece of paper as she started to say, "Thank you for your..." She trailed off completely when she saw who was there, frowning slightly.

"Can I help you with something ladies?"

"Yes, actually. You see, we believe that you are a holder of a certain item that we are in desperate need of," Usagi said, speaking for the whole group.

"I'm not quite sure what that could be since all I own is art related, besides your generic household appliances," she said.

"Well, it wouldn't be something you can see normally. To put is simply, there is a group of humans, including yourselves, that were born with crystals inside of you," Usagi tried to explain.

"Wouldn't something like that show up on a medical scan?" she asked.

"Uh, Luna?" Usagi asked, turning to the cat. That was a very good question, honestly; wouldn't a crystal a size of your fist normally show up on a medical scan?

"It's not exactly physical in the normal sense. It can only materialize when it reacts to certain magic, such as Sailor Moon's healing magic," Luna said, taking over.

"Wouldn't that be painful?" Yumeno asked, frowning.

"Not when it reacts with positive energy. If this were being done by the enemy then yes, it would be painful, but when reacting with Sailor Moon's magic it shouldn't do anything other materialize," Luna said.

There was a slight pause before she said, "All right, on one condition."

"Sure, name it," Luna said, answering for the group much to Usagi's annoyance. Didn't they get a say in the matter?

She held up the drawing pad she had been using before.

"I get to make some quick sketches afterward."

Usagi glanced at the older girls, who nodded their heads, before agreeing, "All right, just keep it short, please. I don't exactly live over here, so I have a commute to get home."

"Fair enough," she said.

Usagi dug the mirror out of the subspace pocket as Luna explained what was going to happen next. Nudging her slightly so she was standing in front, she told Haruka and Michiru to get in position. Usagi felt the older girls take an arm each as she opened up the mirror on command.

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

Remembering Luna's comment about magical exhaustion, she found herself trying to double task rather unsuccessfully. She found it was actually more difficult to heal someone when they were still completely human, so she forced herself to completely cut off her teammates' assistance when she realized she simply wasn't ready to do both at once. Finally, she began to draw only on her own magic. She'd deal with Luna possibly yelling at her later.

A few minutes that seemed like an eon, a green-colored crystal finally materialized. Haruka moved to catch it while Yumeno eyed it warily.

"That's what you needed? It looks pretty normal," the artist said.

"By itself, it is, but combined with the other crystals like itself it forms a crystal that can turn the tide of our conflict of the Dark Kingdom," Luna said as Usagi took the crystal and placed it in the pocket with the red crystal.

"Okay, so you wanted us to pose?" Usagi asked, deciding to cut off the conversation before it really went any further. She wasn't feeling all that great and wondered if it may have taken more out of her than normal.

"Oh, right! Please move over here," she said, making a few motions.

* * *

"Well, that went well," Haruka said a couple of hours later as they were finally leaving the house. It probably would have gone on longer if Usagi hadn't stepped in and said she just couldn't keep going. She had been feeling weak-kneed since healing the painter and it had only grown worse as the time progressed.

"Yes, better than I thought it would, honestly. We now have an advantage over Zoicite that we can use as we track down the remaining members of the Great Warriors," Luna said, almost sounding cheerful.

"About that, Luna… I'm not sure how often I can do this. I don't feel that great," Usagi admitted for the first time, earning everyone's attention.

"Usagi, it was your idea from the beginning-" Luna protested.

"I know it was, but that doesn't stop the fact that I really don't feel good right now," Usagi said as they finally made it to the car, thankful that the girls had been allowed to come along today.

"You were supposed to-"

"I know what I was supposed to do, I just couldn't, okay? I struggled when I healed Nephrite but I was able to siphon off some, but sometimes I can't do it. I couldn't do it at the graveyard during that attack and I couldn't do it today, okay?" Usagi said as she nearly collapsed in the backseat of the car.

"Why didn't you mention this before?" Luna asked with a groan.

"Because I thought it was a onetime thing at the graveyard since I was able to do it with Nephrite easily enough. But this is the second time I've tried it and I've had problems, which tells me that there's a bigger issue," Usagi said, becoming aggravated at having to explain.

"Then we will need some more practice before we do this again, unfortunately," Luna said, frowning. She had really been hoping this would put them several steps in front of the Dark Kingdom, but apparently not.

"Sorry, Luna," Usagi said before drifting off. It would be a good half hour before she got home, so she figured she might as well sleep in the meantime.

_...By the time I_ _woke_ _again it was the next morning and Mom had_ _already_ _called me in sick to school. She said the others_ _told her_ _I was just tired out and_ _they_ _had let me sleep through the ride home rather than wake me up._

_This feels more than a normal tired. I've taken a couple more naps and I can't seem to_ _completely_ _shake the feeling of tiredness._

_I wonder if this is a side_ _effect_ _of being a senshi?_

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I know this chapter was maybe kind of dull in comparison to other chapters. But I did need it to set up several other things and for the rainbow crystal. Things will pick up in the next chapter a bit I promise. I had a bit of a hard time picking a preview for next week's chapter. But I ended up going with this one. Preview for next week's chapter:
> 
> "Yeah, I am not from Tokyo originally-wait do you mean too? I thought you were from Tokyo?" Usagi said after a second or so raising an eyebrow in question. While Tokyo had been hit by the quake it hadn't been hit on such a major scale. And the way Hotaru had phrased the question made it sound like she had actually been closer to the epicenter and the damage. Since most people she had talked to since the earthquake hadn't really said they were in the earthquake.
> 
> "I am from Tokyo but my Mom was from Onagawa just north of Sendai originally," Hotaru said in explanation.
> 
> "I know that town. I used to live just north of it in Minamisanriku before the quake devastated the area," Usagi said blinking a few times in surprised.
> 
> "I don't know. I just remember that me and Shingo had to leave school early that day. If we hadn't I would still have my brother and my legs. So what was a city girl like you doing all the way up there?" Usagi said running a hand through her hair. As she had told Haruka and Michiru prior she didn't remember all the details of that horrific day. Just bits and pieces here and there. Sestuna had said that it was perfectly normal concerning the trauma.
> 
> "We were up there visiting my Mom's family, they lived there. She only came to Tokyo to attend college. That's where she met Dad and permanently relocated here. We sometimes took off for a day to see her family but it wasn't very often. Usually every few months or so. I remember at the time I was having a particularly rough patch with my peers and so my Mom managed to convince my Dad to take off for a few days just to get away from it all," Hotaru said in explanation.
> 
> "At the wrong place at the wrong time," Usagi muttered. While the situation wasn't identical it was interesting how both Hotaru and her would have never gone through their trauma if they had been where they were supposed to be.
> 
> Please don't hate me for doing this. A quick note Hotaru isn't so physically scarred from the events as she is emotionally. I thought maybe having a fellow survivor among the senshi would be a good idea. Even if they experienced different things as a result of the quake. Plus it gave me a good way to write out Hotaru's Mom without the Death Busters.


	19. Hints of Things to Come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Hey everybody! It's Chapter 19 time!
> 
> First off a bit of a heads up I am heading off to California next week. Yes again. This time for D23. Got to love those conveniently scheduled doctors appointments. Now here's the thing I don't have 20 in my hands yet and you guys know my normal rule as far as posting goes. I really am hoping to get it to you on time and I even asked my beta to try to get it to me by Sunday so I can have it sitting in the Doc Manager but I don't know if that will happen. Soooo I am going to allow an exception for this coming weekend because of the convention and because hey its the big 20. Hard to believe we hit 20 chapters!
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> To Sailor Tala, Light-Sakura, Keyblade, rogue-scholar07, and LoveInTheBattlefield thanks for the reviews. To fathomtheunfathomable thanks for putting me on story alert. To Silverwings1227 thanks for adding me to your favs list. And a final thanks to starfetcher for kudosing me on AO3. And as always a shout out to all my unknown readers! I love you all.
> 
> Please enjoy Chapter 19 and please check out my end notes for a bit of an announcement.

Chapter 19: Hints of Things To Come

_Dear Shingo,_

_Luna is still at a loss as_ _to_ _why the healing spells seem to be having such an effect on me. She thinks I may be accidentally overdoing it on the spells_ _,_ _but we have no real way of telling. She_ _,_ _of course_ _,_ _wants to amp the practice to prevent a repeat of what happened with the painter._ _However, she_ _seems to be ignoring the other explanation that_ _keeps_ _coming up_ _more and more_ _,_ _especially after being a model for Yumeno._

_For now_ _,_ _though_ _,_ _we are waiting for me to completely_ _recover_ _before pushing the subject more. I'm still wiped out from it._

_On another note_ _,_ _I know I've only mentioned Motoki once or twice in passing_ _,_ _but I would never have thought that he, or rather someone he is rather close_ _to,_ _would be so directly involved with one of the Dark Kingdom plots..._

"Luna _,_ have you seen anything like this before?" Michiru asked, frowning. An hour after they had dropped Usagi off at her family's apartment, where Luna had to explain to Usagi's family that it was best to just let the girl sleep rather than wake her. They were now at the girls' apartment with Luna, who had chosen to tag along with them tonight instead of going back to Naru's.

"A couple of times but..." Luna replied unhappily.

"But?" Haruka prompted after a couple of minutes of nothing but Luna staring at the ground in thought.

Luna sighed before continuing, "I've never seen it to this extent within the senshi ranks. I checked her energy levels when we dropped her off; a normal senshi shouldn't be able to exhaust herself that much and still be standing after. The only time I saw this was when the Lunar Royal Family overused the Ginzuishou, leading to magical exhaustion of this extent."

The older girls exchanged surprised glances, realizing what Luna was implying

"You think she might be the Moon Princess?" Michiru concluded warily.

Luna resumed staring at the ground, thinking about the incident at the painter's house and how to say what was going through her mind.

"It is possible, I believe. There is definitely an uncanny resemblance between Usagi and the girl the host of one of the Rainbow Crystals painted, but the only way to truly check if she is the princess is to gather the seven rainbow crystals. When they are gathered in the presence of the princess, they will reform into the Ginzuishou and reveal the moon princess," Luna said.

"But in order to properly do so we need Usagi, and she is in no condition to do any fighting," Michiru said, her frown deepening.

"And therein lies our problem. And, if she is the moon princess and is showing signs of magical exhaustion, then it will be at least a few days before she is back to normal. How much she accidentally overused directly correlates to how long it will take her to recover... But Zoicite won't stop just because we're down a team member," Luna replied.

"And you still haven't identified any of the other senshi?" Haruka asked, wondering if they could rely on them to help with the Great Warriors.

Luna shook her head before saying, "Even if I could, it would make very little difference in the situation. The only senshi who had healing powers were the Moon Senshi, and only on occasion. Usually Senshi missions didn't involve healing the enemy, so there was never really a need for other senshi to have healing abilities."

"What about that Tuxedo Kamen fellow? He's shown healing traits before, according to Usagi. Perhaps he could stand in for Usagi until she is well enough to fight again," Michiru suggested.

"Won't work. I've seen some of it and it won't make that much difference," Luna answered.

After a couple of minutes of silence Haruka said, "I guess we don't have a say in the matter, really. Usagi will have to participate in the fights, even if it means hanging out on the sideline until she is needed. We'll just have to make sure she hangs back and lets us do the fighting until the Great Warriors are ready to be healed."

* * *

By the time Usagi finally did wake up, it was almost mid-day the following day. Usagi frowned, sitting up and wondering what had happened and why she wasn't at school, as she reached for her legs. Slipping them on, she headed out of her room and called out, "Mom?"

"In the kitchen, Usagi," she heard her mother reply from down the hall.

Following the sound of the voice, she entered the kitchen she grabbed a seat at the table before asking, "So why am I not at school?"

"Haruka and Michiru brought you home last night looking completely wiped out. Luna said you had overdone it with your magic by accident and that it was best to let you sleep, so I called you in sick," her mother said, turning to face her.

"But-" Usagi began in protest.

"Look, honey, I know you're worried about missing school this late in the semester, but it will do little good for you to be sleeping in class, as Luna implied could very well happen if you weren't allowed to sleep out your exhaustion," her mom said, taking a seat across from her and giving her hand a reassuring pat.

"I guess I see your point," Usagi reluctantly conceded after taking a moment to consider what she'd said.

"Besides, you can quiz Naru about what you missed when you go for the Senshi meeting this afternoon," her mom said.

"Hey, Mom, do you think if we got a service animal that the building management would allow us to have a pet here?" Usagi asked after a brief silence.

"Usagi, you know we can't afford an animal right now, but to answer your question I honestly don't know," she replied.

"I know that, it's just that the girls and I have a plan concerning Luna in case we need to take her somewhere pets aren't allowed," Usagi said before launching into an explanation of the plan that the girls had put together so far. They still had to do more research, but it looked like it would be at least somewhat plausible.

Her mom remained silent, pondering the idea, but eventually answered, "I honestly don't know. You would have to get Luna fully certified before we could even ask the management about that. I wouldn't get your hopes up too much about it, but they may say yes if you can get her certified."

"I'll keep that in mind," Usagi said in response. They weren't even sure at this point if there plan would work because they hadn't had the time to do look into it – too busy with Yumeno, the approaching end of the year, and their fight against the Dark Kingdom – but at least there appeared to be another positive to getting Luna certified.

* * *

It was a couple of days later that Usagi and Hotaru were discussing school. So far, Usagi was having a rather interesting time trying to avoid the events of two years ago, still uncomfortable telling anyone right off the bat about what had happened.

"I was involved in something a couple of years back that led to me having school trouble. I've been trying to scrape the passing grades to continue to Grade 9, but it's been difficult, and missing classes this late in the game doesn't help," Usagi said, phrasing her words carefully. Hotaru had been quizzing her about her obsession with grades lately and why she seemed so stressed by then.

"You were in the Sendai earthquake, too?" Hotaru asked, giving her a wide eyed look.

"Where did you get that from?" Usagi asked, scrunching up her face in confusion. She had been pretty careful about what she had said during the conversation and she hadn't given any hints that she could think of that she had been in the quake.

"The timing and the fact that you were in the graveyard on the anniversary… It suggests that you have some sort of connection with the quake, too," Hotaru explained.

"Yeah, I'm not from Tokyo originally– wait, do you mean 'too?' I thought you were from Tokyo," Usagi said, raising an eyebrow in question. While Tokyo had been hit by the quake, it hadn't been hit on such a major scale. The way Hotaru had phrased the question made it sound like she had actually been closer to the epicenter and the damage. Most people she had talked to since the earthquake hadn't said they were "in" the earthquake.

"I am from Tokyo but my mom was from Onagawa, just north of Sendai, originally," Hotaru replied.

"I know that town. I used to live just north of it in Minamisanriku before the quake devastated the area," Usagi said, blinking a few times with her surprised gaze fixed on Hotaru.

"Where were you that day?" Hotaru asked softly.

"I don't know. I just remember that Shingo and I had to leave school early that day. If we hadn't, I would still have my brother and my legs… So what was a city girl like you doing all the way up there?" Usagi said, running a hand through her hair. As she had told Haruka and Michiru before, she didn't remember all the details of that horrific day, just bits and pieces here and there. Setsuna had said that it was perfectly normal concerning the trauma.

"We were up there visiting my mom's family; they lived there. She only came to Tokyo to attend college. That's where she met Dad and why she moved here. We sometimes took off for a day to see her family, but it wasn't very often, usually every few months or so. I remember at the time I was having a particularly rough patch with my peers, so Mom managed to convince Dad to take off for a few days just to get away from it all," Hotaru answered.

"In the wrong place at the wrong time," Usagi muttered. While the situation wasn't identical, it was interesting how both she and Hotaru would have never gone through their trauma if they had been where they were supposed to be.

Hotaru nodded her head in agreement. After a moment of silence, she hesitantly asked, "How do you deal with it? The grief?"

Usagi sighed before carefully wording her answer, "For the longest, I didn't. Most of the therapists my parents sent me to ended up being more counterproductive than helpful. In the entire two years since the quake, I've only gotten a couple of useful things from most of the therapists. It was only recently I found someone that could really help."

"And?" Hotaru asked at Usagi's pause, correctly guessing that there was more to the story.

"Not long after Haruka and Michiru joined the team, I started seeing Dr. Setsuna Meioh, and she has been great. She actually helps and doesn't really pressure me to talk about it. On days I can't or won't talk about what happened, we work on something else, like my fear of water that developed after the quake," Usagi said.

"Dad wants me to see a therapist too but-" Hotaru admitted after a small silence, pausing for a second to think about the next part.

"You're worried about how they will handle you?" Usagi said, guessing where the girl was going. At Hotaru's nod she added, "Maybe try Setsuna then. I don't know if she will work for you, but she has been fantastic for me."

"I'll mention it to Dad," Hotaru said after a second.

The conversation took a drastic change as Haruka and Michiru entered the room. Now that the group was gathered together again, Luna said, "All right, so we know Usagi accidentally overdid it while healing the painter yesterday."

At Hotaru's raised eyebrows, Usagi shook her head and whispered, "I'll fill you in later."

"So we are going to need to change tactics until further notice," Luna said.

"Huh?" Usagi said, looking up at the cat in confusion. This was news to her.

"Usagi, you may feel back to normal, for the most part, but you aren't. It will take at least a few days before your energy is back to regular levels, so until further notice you are going to take a backseat in battling," Luna replied.

"But what if a rainbow crystal holder pops up?" Usagi asked, confused.

"You will still heal the user, but you will leave the battling to the others until you are given the signal to move in and use Moon Healing Escalation," Luna explained.

"And how will the signal work?" Usagi asked, frowning at the thought.

"Haruka, you are the one that thought of it. Do you want to explain and show it?" Luna said, turning to the older girl.

"Yeah, sure," Haruka said, standing up. She showed off a couple of hand signals to the group, which Usagi tried to imitate with some difficulty. Oh well, at least she would be looking for them, not performing them.

"Basically these are signals some modern militaries use to either come forward or rally together. I thought they might be good to use since the Dark Kingdom probably doesn't have a clue what they mean or why we're using them," Haruka said as she took a seat again.

"We may have to mix them up sometimes in order to keep them from catching on, but it definitely looks like it would work. For now, Usagi, I just want you to learn to recognize them while you three work on performing them. We'll work on reversing that at a later time, once we've perfected this," Luna said.

* * *

A day or so later, Usagi and Naru headed back at the arcade to blow off some steam. With no sign of Zoicite quite yet, Luna had let everyone off for an afternoon, so the two good friends decided to head back to the arcade that they had become frequent visitors of since that fateful day in January. They recently hadn't had much time to come back, with the almost daily senshi meetings, so Usagi hadn't been back since the day with the guy named Joe.

"Mako-chan!" Usagi said in greeting to the brunette who she had recently bonded with over problems with the school administration. She was a little surprised to see her there but glad nonetheless.

"Usagi?" she asked, looking up from the game just as she lost.

"The one and only. I didn't realize you were becoming a regular here," Usagi said, taking a seat at the game next to hers.

"I started coming here pretty frequently after that one day. I realized the games are a good way to vent and not accidentally get in trouble. Anyway, what have you been up to? Any news from the school about your problems?" she said, scratching the back of her head before moving to change the subject.

"Just been busy with stuff. I come here when things aren't so crazy. No real progress on the school front here, what about you?" Usagi asked curiously.

"None, really. The last time I talked with the administration they said they would get back to me in time for me to start the program, but I'd still like to know before the school year is out," she said, an annoyed look crossing her face.

"Yeah, well, considering my luck with them, I doubt you'll have much better luck, but hopefully they'll be more proactive with you than they have been with me," Usagi said, thinking about the frustrating year she'd been through.

Makoto chose that moment to change the subject and asked, "Hey, who's that girl talking to the arcade guy?"

"Not sure. I know his sister, Unazuki, mentioned that he was engaged to a girl, so that might be her," Usagi said after glancing over to where Makoto was looking.

"You seem to know quite a bit about him," Makoto said, turning her attention back to Usagi.

"Not really. Most stuff I heard from Naru, who's been coming here longer. I met his sister a couple of times in passing. She's a waitress at the parlor that connects with the arcade," Usagi said, pointing in the direction of the parlor. She went in there even less frequently than she did the arcade, but she had gone there a couple of times for food.

"Naru's the red head you hang out with, right? I thought she was dating an older guy?" Makoto asked, remembering what she had heard through the school grape vine.

"She is, but before she met him she had a crush on Motoki, so she tried to learn as much about him from anything she could," Usagi replied. When Naru developed crushes, she tended to try and find out as much as possible about the subject of her love. Motoki had been no exception.

"Oh, that makes sense," Makoto said simply.

"Have you even met him?" Usagi asked, turning back to Makoto curiously.

"Oh, uh, no, not yet. I kind of prefer to admire from a far," she said, blushing lightly.

"Or you just never worked up the courage to talk to him before you found out if he was taken?" Usagi said, raising an eyebrow in question.

Makoto rubbed the back of her head before saying, "Got it in one. I got burned pretty badly by my ex-boyfriend from my old middle school. I'm wary of actually getting in a relationship since then, but I can't seem to stop chasing cute guys."

"Well I'm sure you will find the right guy eventually. You just have to keep an eye out for him," Usagi said, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Thanks," she said, smiling slightly. "Hey, what do you say to a two player round on that new video game they installed?"

"Sounds great," Usagi said, giving her a smile before following her deeper into the arcade.

* * *

A few hours later Usagi left the arcade, running straight into a pacing Luna.

"Something wrong, Luna?" she asked.

"I'm picking up a Dark Kingdom signature from here again," Luna said, glancing at the door unhappily.

"And of course you can't go in because you are a cat and haven't been certified as a service dog yet," Usagi said, frowning slightly and earning a nod from Luna.

"Do you think the head honcho would believe you if you said I'm a recent acquirement and would prefer if I was with you?" Luna asked. Usagi shook her head.

"I'm rather good friends with Motoki. I would rather not lie to him like that if possible. Besides, I've been here for a couple hours; he'll question me only bringing you here now and not when I first got here," she replied.

Luna frowned slightly before perking up, glancing behind her. Usagi noticed Motoki's fiancée had exited the arcade, finally, and asked, "Is that the person giving off the Dark Kingdom signature?"

Luna nodded.

"Call the others and say we have a possible target. I'm going to track her for a while to see where she is staying. Once we have an idea of where to find her, we'll figure out what to do from there."

Usagi nodded as she straightened up. Luna darted into the crowd, attempting to keep pace with the newest Rainbow Crystal holder. They would have to wait for Zoicite to make the first move; Usagi was too weak at the moment to try a repeat of what they had done with the painter.

Usagi flipped open her cell phone and quickly punched in Michiru's phone number. After a quick talk and a promise to get everyone there, Usagi hung up, looking around. She didn't have much of an idea where Luna went, but she had seen the direction Motoki's fiancée had been heading. She should at least try, she figured.

She somehow managed to track down Luna near Juuban Park. The cat was pacing and looked frustrated. Usagi frowned and said, "Don't tell me you lost her."

"Of course not!" Luna said, shooting her a glare.

Usagi crossed her arms before saying, "So where is she, then?"

"She is-" Luna began, only to be interrupted by a scream.

"Never mind, I think we just found her," Usagi said as she ducked through the park entrance, looking for enough cover to transform without being seen. Finally finding a spot she thought that would meet her needs, she switched to her senshi garb.

"Go wait for the others, Luna, and direct them here," Usagi said, turning to face the cat.

"You can't possibly be thinking of trying to take down that youma yourself. You still aren't recovered from your adventures a couple of days ago," Luna argued back.

"I am fully aware of that, but I just can't risk Zoicite running off with a Rainbow Crystal again now, can I? Even if I can't attack right now, I can at least try to prevent him from making off with a crystal until the others arrive," Usagi said, rolling her eyes.

"All right, as long as you don't try anything magical until the others get there," Luna said, finally but reluctantly consenting.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll make sure to wait for them," Usagi said, waving off the concern.

"All right, I'll be there shortly," Luna said, taking off through a nearby set of bushes back towards the street they had come from. Usagi let out a sigh before turning the direction she had thought she had heard the scream come from. She wasn't sure how well she would be able to obey the order, but she would at least try. Taking off at a run, she hoped she wasn't too late.

* * *

When she finally got there, she realized with a groan that she _was_ a bit too late. The lady had already morphed into her Great Warrior form and Zoicite, she noticed with a frown, was missing for some reason. What was that about? She would have thought that he would have taken the Great Warriors with him. The only reason why he hadn't done it the last time was because he had gotten side tracked by Haruka's attack, or at least she'd thought that was the case. There had to be something else going on, she realized.

She wondered briefly whether or not she should try to take care of the youma, in spite of Luna's orders, or chase after Zoicite, if he was still around. The latter would make her lose the youma, but then again their overall goal was to gather the Ginzuishou and revive the Moon Princess, wasn't it? A part of it being in the hand of someone else couldn't be good.

She was brought out of her dilemma by Michiru calling, "Sailor Moon!"

She blinked a few times in surprise. They appeared okay, though Hotaru looked a bit hassled for some reason.

"How did you three get here already?" Usagi asked, looking confused.

Haruka had the decency to blush at that, muttering something to herself that Usagi missed. She turned to Michiru, raising an eyebrow in question.

"We may have broken a couple of speeding laws on our way over after we got the call," Michiru clarified.

"Ah," Usagi said. That explained why Hotaru looked frazzled, at least. She still clearly remembered the last time she had ridden with the older girls and they had been in a hurry.

"Anyway, what's the situation?" Haruka asked, trying to redirect the conversation as quickly as possible.

"Zoicite is currently missing in action but the Great Warrior is still here, which I don't really understand since you'd think if they went through the trouble of reviving one of their most dangerous youma, they would stick around and take it back to the Dark Kingdom," Usagi said, scratching the back of her head.

"Do you think Zoicite is still around here somewhere?" Michiru asked.

"That's the only thing I can think of. We should at least search the park to debunk the theory, though someone needs to watch the youma and make sure it doesn't go anywhere," Usagi said, quickly formulating a plan in her head.

"So half of us can figure out where Zoicite went while the other half tries to take out the Great Warrior," Hotaru piped up for the first time, looking a bit better now.

"Well, I know where I'll be, then. I'm the key to healing the Great Warriors, so I'll have to stay here. I think I should team up with Hotaru while you two try to chase Zoicite," Usagi said after a second of contemplation.

The older girls exchanged glances before nodding. They took off at a quick speed, leaving Usagi and Hotaru alone. She turned to Hotaru and said, "Please tell me Luna informed you why she wants me to take it easy for the next couple of days."

"Yeah, she did, but I'm not so sure how much help I will be. I am just starting out on this journey, after all," Hotaru said, glancing back in the direction of the youma.

"I realize that, but at this point any help would be great," Usagi said, parting some of the bush to get another look at the youma.

"So I should probably lead off with an attack and see how she responds to it so we can figure out our strategy from there?" Hotaru suggested, starting the process of powering up her own attack.

"Can't think of anything better to try so, yeah, let's see what we can do with that," Usagi said, giving her a nod of consent. The older girl noticed the slight glow surrounding the glaive Hotaru wielded. Maybe that was her focus for her ability? She had never seen Haruka and Michiru use one, and Sailor Pluto was a completely mystery, so she had no idea if this was normal.

A second or so later, the dark purple ball that was Hotaru's Silence Glaive Surprise whooshed out of the bushes, knocking the youma off of her feet. Usagi grinned slightly as they moved out into the open.

"You keep powering up I'll distract her until you are ready. Once she has been hit a couple of times, we'll switch and you'll distract her as I power up my Moon Healing Escalation, understood?" Usagi said.

At Hotaru's nod, she moved so she was directly in the youma's line of sight, blocking Hotaru. Figuring the girl would give her some warning before releasing the attack, she thought this was the best decision. They couldn't rely on the others returning to assist considering they weren't sure where Zoicite had gone.

"You really think you can stop me?" the youma sneered at her, twirling a vial in its hand.

Usagi eyed the vial with some wariness, taking a couple steps back. She would rather not find out what was contained in the vial if she could help it.

Locking eyes with the youma she said, "Yes. Yes, I can, because the Earth depends on me as the senshi of love and justice to fight against evil and protect the people of this planet."

"Duck!" Hotaru called out right at the end of her sentence.

"Duck?" the youma said, confused, as Usagi complied in time to see the dark purple ball fly over into the youma, knocking it several feet back.

"Good going, Saturn!" Usagi said, digging out her mirror again. She had a sinking suspicion what the vials contained and would rather not be attacked by it, so she needed to act now and take down the youma. Luna could yell at her all she wanted later.

"Moon?" Hotaru questioned.

"I can't risk finding out whatever is in her vials. She needs to go down now," Usagi said, flipping her mirror open as she got into position. Before Hotaru could complain, she said, "Moon Healing Escalation!"

It didn't take her long to regret it, though. A bit too late, she realized she was still tired from yesterday. She could feel her entire body beginning to shake from the effort she was putting forth. She vaguely registered that someone was giving her some support and wondered if the other girls had finally returned from scouting out Zoicite. Finally, the youma returned to Motoki's fiancée and she allowed herself to change back into her civilian form. She could hear Luna's scolding voice in the background but was too tired to process what she was saying – she knew she would hear it again in a couple of days anyway – so she just let herself succumb to the need to sleep.

* * *

"Tuxedo Kamen-san, may I speak to you for a few minutes?"

Tuxedo Kamen jumped slightly when he was approached by Sailor Pluto right after the fight. He had been distracted watching the other girls make their way out, wondering if the girl who was Sailor Moon would be okay, to realize that the fourth member of the team had begun to approach him.

He blinked a couple of times in surprise when he realized who it was. Other than Sailor Moon once after he first offered his assistance against the fortune telling youma, the senshi hadn't approached him.

After a second he recovered enough to say, "Yeah. Let's just go somewhere a bit more private first so no one stumbles across us."

Sailor Pluto motioned for him to lead the way, then followed him a good distance away from where the fight had taken place. Finally satisfied that they weren't going to be found, he turned to her.

"So what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you had ever considered teaming up with the senshi rather than going about this alone?" she asked in return.

"No, why?" he answered simply. There had never really been a reason to do so, especially since they were both trying to track down the same item. While they had a common enemy, the fact they were competing for the rainbow crystals made them enemies in another respect. The only reason he kept showing up to any and all fights the girls had was that Sailor Moon seemed to have some sort of magnetic pull on him. He also found himself drawn to her battles. It didn't happen all the time but, when it did occur, he more often than not found himself involved in the Senshi's fights with the Dark Kingdom.

"Because you may have a good reason to," Pluto replied.

"Okay, I know we are both fighting against the Dark Kingdom, but that doesn't change the fact that we are both seeking the rainbow crystals. That makes allies in one breath and enemies in the next, so you better have a better explanation than just it's a 'good reason'," he said, crossing his arms with a frown.

"Have you ever considered that you might be seeking the rainbow crystals for the same reason?" Sailor Pluto said with a soft sigh.

"Huh?" he replied, earning a soft chuckle from the woman. It really hadn't occurred to him.

"In ancient times, which you and the girls hail from, the Sailor Senshi were charged with protecting the Lunar Royal Family. In particular, the younger generation was charged with protecting the princess, since males were rarely born into the family, while the older generation was charged with protecting the queen and king."

She paused for a second before continuing, "Since the Moon Kingdom fell all those years ago, mostly those of the younger generation were reincarnated. So, when they began to wake once more as Sailor Senshi, they began to feel the need to protect what remains of the former royalty, the princess. While it seems their attention has only recently shifted to trying to find her, it is their primary task."

"Okay, that's fascinating and all, but what has that got to do with me working with them? You make it sound more like I should just hand over the rainbow crystal I own and forget about tracking her down on my own," he said, his frown deepening.

"Have some patience; I was getting to the point," Pluto said, giving him a scolding look. "Back in ancient times, the Ginzuishou was a symbol of the Lunar Royal Family and, while it was very rare, a couple of times the crystal had to be broken up into the rainbow crystals. Once the Ginzuishou was needed once more, the senshi were charged with gathering the crystals that had been scattered to avoid detection by the enemy. The crystal would reform again once in the presence of someone of Lunar Royal blood."

"So if we gather the crystals together, then the princess will be revealed," he said, catching onto what she was saying finally.

"Precisely. Now, think about it, if you are working with the senshi to help them find their princess instead of acting in opposition, they might be more willing to allow you to speak to her about the subject you wish to address," Pluto pointed out.

"All right, I will definitely talk to them about working with them next time I see them," he said, nodding.

"Good, that is all I ask. I will leave you for now," she replied, giving a slight bow before turning to leave.

"Wait, one question," he said.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to face him again.

"If I'm officially joining the group, shouldn't you be doing the same?" he asked.

"I have my reasons for keeping separate from the group, but I will join the fray eventually. For now, it is best I keep my distance," Sailor Pluto answered cryptically. Before he could question her further on the statement, she disappeared into some trees just as quickly as she had come.

Figuring he had better things to do than chase down mysterious senshi with mysterious answers to straight forward questions, he decided it was time to head home.

_...According to Motoki, Rena is slightly shaken_ _,_ _but is doing okay otherwise_ _and_ _will leave for the archeology site in a few days. He looks like he is going to miss her but at the same time is happy for her. At least this way she won't be in the vicinity of any of the Dark Kingdom attacks_ _,_ _I think._

_I have to admit_ _,_ _when I started fighting the Dark Kingdom I never expected to find a comrade of sorts. I'm still in a bit of shock that Hotaru is a fellow survivor of the earthquake_ _, even_ _if the circumstances are so different._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

End Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And that's a wrap for this week! So first things first. I'm thinking about in September having a live chat with you guys to help feild off some of the questions. Because honestly I am tired of replying to PMs to everything. So I thought it might be more fun to have a live chat after a post. Like on a Saturday sometime in early to mid September. Because we have a big chapter coming up in the mid 20s and I want to get that out of the way before the live chat. It will probably be over in tinychat. I will post more details as I figure it out. Let me know what you guys think!
> 
> Preview for next week, but before we begin please remember what I have said about the inners being introd (yes their civilian forms are being introd no their senshi forms are not being introd for a long while):
> 
> As promised around two days later Usagi returned with a familiar tall brunette in tow. Her and Mako had bonded over school troubles and love for arcade games. And along the way Mako had brought up the fact that she was looking for a part time to help cover for the classes she had to take. So when Rei had mentioned that she was looking for a part time worker to help around the shrine her thoughts had flown to her other new friend who was looking for a job. And thought it would be a good idea to at least introduce the two.
> 
> "Usagi, your back again," Rei greeted as she spotted them eyeing the taller girl slightly.
> 
> "Uh huh. And I brought along someone that might be able to help you out," Usagi spoke up.
> 
> "Really?" Rei said raising an eyebrow in question.
> 
> "Yeah Usagi mentioned you were looking for a part time worker? I am kind of in need of a part time job myself at the moment to help cover some expenses that I've built up that isn't covered by the allowance that my parents set up," she said scratching the back of her head slightly.
> 
> Rei frowned slightly giving the taller girl a once over before speaking, "All right lets move inside the shrine so we can further discuss this."
> 
> Mako relaxed a bit at that while Usagi felt her grin grow slightly at that before saying, "You think you can get home from here if I head out when you go inside?"
> 
> "Yeah I'll be okay. Thanks for the help," Mako said returning the smile with one of her own.
> 
> "Not a problem. Good luck and text me after wards and let me know how it goes," Usagi said as Mako followed Rei through one of the sliding doors before she turned to head out. She technically was supposed to be at a senshi meeting right now but in order to coordinate this with Mako she had to ditch it for a bit. But it had been worth Luna's scolding to possibly solve her friend's problems she knew as she made her way quickly back down the shrine stairs.
> 
> That's it for now! See you next week!


	20. Nightmare at the Shrine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So just barely making it under the wire but I did make it! I thought I was going to get this uploaded this morning and then you all would have a full day to read this. Than D23 Arena happened. We aren't allowed electronics into the arena. So by the time I went and remembered that hey I need to upload the new chapter the line was all ready moving into the arena setup. Two hours before the panel was supposed to start. It was a two hour panel, it went three. It was amazing but oh good lord was my butt sore by the end of that. And I get to do it again tomorrow for the live action panel. Fun (I hate leaving my electronics turned off, especially my cell). I just can't decide whether or not I'm hoping that the panel will run over. Because that means yeah more stuff, but it also means an incredibly sore and hungry me.
> 
> To Light-Sakura, rogue-scholar07, Emma Iveli (Hi there! Glad you are enjoying the fic), Keyblade (I really hope you read the author's note because I can't send you a PM, so I am coming out and saying this, this is not going to end up UsagixMamoru, I'm sorry if that's what you want. But I never intended going that route and thus why I have kept the interactions to a min so far. Yes there will be some UsagixMamoru in the first season and a bit in the second. But yeah no they aren't going to be together in the long run), Sailor Tala, LoveInTheBattleField, and Puffgirl1952 for the reviews. To starfetcher over on AO3 thanks for the wonderful review and the kudos. And as always a thanks to every unknown reader out there.A thanks to Faraway-R, sailormoon846212, crispywheat, Saphyire, thebigmoose, and il2swim57 thank you for putting the story on your alerts list. And a thanks to Emma Iveli for the fav! Continue reading I appreciate the support.
> 
> As always I want to thank some people. A friend who shall remain unnamed for being my sounding board on how to handle certain thing in the story. To June aka lesbiaaans for helping point me in the right direction on how to handle one of my plans that will kick in during the second arc. And to all the people at the NaNoWriMo write-ins who heard me talking about this story and let me ramble about it for God knows how long. You all are the best!
> 
> So that's enough of my rambling for now. Please enjoy Chapter 20 and leave a review if you can when your done!

Chapter 20: Nightmare at the Shrine

_Dear Shingo,_

_Today_ , _school finally ended_ _,_ _and now_ _begins_ _the long wait to figure out what happens to me and my schooling career._ _On_ _the bright side_ _,_ _no matter what after next year_ _,_ _things should finally hit a somewhat normal_ _pattern_ _and I finally should have an idea of when I should finish school. Now whether or not I will get into high school is another matter_ _altogether_ _. . . ._

_On another note_ _,_ _we began the rather long process of figuring out how we could get Luna certified as a service dog so she_ _can_ _get around in certain areas with me without drawing a lot of attention. To say_ _it's_ _complicated I think would be putting it mildly..._

"Usagi, school is over now. Going and putting a last minute prayer in isn't really going to help that much this late in the game," Naru said with an eye roll. The last class had let out earlier, so the school year was finally was over as of three o'clock that afternoon – not that it seemed to be haunting Usagi any less. It had been about a week since the incident with the last youma and there was no sign of Zoicite yet. Usagi had spent the better part of two days sleeping off the latest bout of magical exhaustion and wasn't about to question the general's choice in random break. Luna hadn't even allowed her to transform again since the last battle, making Usagi sit and watch the last set of training sessions. She was scheduled to resume light training tonight, but only light since they had no clue when they would be dealing with Zoicite again.

"I know but-" she said, glancing up at the shrine gates again. They had been there once before back in February. Shortly after the time youma but before the Dreamland youma there had been some weird incidents involving disappearing buses when Jadeite had been using the shrine as a base of operations to organize the energy stealing buses.

"I swear, since you started going to that tarot card reader on occasion you've gotten very superstitious," Naru said, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess it doesn't make much of a difference in the end for this year, but we could always pray for a good new year, or maybe for me to have a decent teacher next year? Or just not to be straddled with Haruna-sensei again?" she said, choosing to ignore the comment about her ongoing sessions with the old man who read tarot cards. While they weren't the most informative, they gave her a slight grasp of the future and, in this day and age, that was all she could ask for.

"True. That couldn't hurt," Naru complied.

"Plus, it wouldn't hurt to see if the shrine has gotten back on its feet with the disappearance of Jadeite and the buses having gone back to normal," Usagi said, starting up the steps of the temple.

"All right, all right, you've convinced me. I'm coming," Naru said, following up her steps. It took them a little bit to traverse the tall staircase that led to the shrine only to find that it appeared to be empty at the moment, leaving Usagi wondering where the Shrine priest and his granddaughter she had met in passing during their last visit were.

Since Naru seemed to be taking her time looking around, she decided to approach the rope to do her prayer first. Going through the process she knew from memory, she closed her eyes for a second.

"Please, gods up there, don't put me back with Haruna-sensei again. I can't live through another year with her teaching methods. I'll take anything as long as it means I get a way out. And please continue to watch over my younger brother, wherever he ended up in the afterlife," she thought, sending her prayer off after letting go of the rope. She stepped back after bowing one last time to allow Naru to do her own prayer only to be startled by a new arrival. The shrine priest draped in a cape, of all things, came rushing past them, spouting something that Usagi missed, before coming to a stop in front of Naru.

"Grandpa, leave them alone," a new voice interrupted whatever he was planning to do before he could act on it. The shrine maiden, who was also the priest's granddaughter, wasn't that much older than them and looked more than slightly annoyed by his antics.

"Sorry about him. He's been acting a bit odd the last few days," she said, turning to them with an apologetic expression as the priest wandered back inside the building. "I have to admit, I didn't expect to see you two back here so soon since you guys were here right around the time of the bus disappearing incident."

"Oh, we didn't think you guys had anything to do with it. We've just been too busy with finals to visit. Classes ended today so I thought it would be nice to come visit on our way home. How have things been going here since the buses have stopped disappearing?" Usagi said cheerfully. Truthfully, she had thought about coming back before but school and senshi duties had prevented it. A trip to the shrine would have taken more time than they had the last couple of weeks.

"Well, things were starting to go back to normal, then Grandpa took a tumble a few days back and has been acting a bit odd ever since. You saw how he was about to greet you earlier? That's how he's been acting most of the time for the past few days," Rei said, glancing back towards the shrine with concern.

"Have you taken him to a doctor yet?" Naru asked.

"I can't. There's only the two of us to run the shrine. If there's no one around to run it during the day, we lose money. That's why we needed Jed, but since he disappeared after the bus incident we have yet to find someone to replace him at the shrine. And, until we can find someone to look after the shrine while I take Grandpa to an appointment, we're kind of stuck," Rei said.

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Naru asked, tilting her head.

"Well, he doesn't appear injured, at least; he's just acting a bit odd. If he keeps this up for a few more days, I will risk losing some business for a few hours and take him to see a doctor, but I wish we could at least find a temporary hire. However, it seems we still have some of the bus incident hanging over us, even if we were cleared of having nothing to do with it, because we've yet to find anyone to even a little interested in working part time at the shrine," Rei said, her voice sounding more frustrated by the minute.

"Have you put up signs around the neighborhood saying you are looking for a part time worker?" Usagi asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Yeah, but no one has responded yet. I think if we were looking for new hires a few more months down the road, this wouldn't be so much of a problem, but since everything just happened in February and so many people still remember it on top of everything else happening in Juuban lately, no one is thinking of working for us yet," Rei said, glancing back at the shrine once more with a tired look in her eyes.

Usagi got a far off look in her eyes, to which one of Naru's eyebrows went up and she asked, "You have an idea, Usagi?"

"I might, but I have to talk to her first. Can you give me a day, Rei?" she said, addressing the girl again.

"If it means finally solving our lack of part-time work, then sure, I can wait a couple more days," Rei said, looking to Usagi curiously.

"All right, I'll be back in a couple of days with, hopefully, some good news," Usagi said, giving her a bright smile before saying their goodbyes. Any more delays while heading back to Naru's place and they would be getting an earful from Luna.

* * *

"All right, so in order for Luna to be qualified as a service dog, she needs to be able to perform a minimum of two tasks from this list that was provided," Usagi said, scanning down the list. A couple of days after the latest Rainbow Crystal attack, Usagi still felt a bit out of sorts, but well enough to work on their latest plan.

"As useful as this will be, don't they have service cats?" Luna asked, reading over the list.

"Yeah, but they are mainly used for to alert people who have seizures that they are about to have one. Unless I suddenly start having seizures, that isn't an option," Usagi replied.

"Great," Luna muttered, not that enthusiastic about having to maintain a dog form for any period of time. Most of the tasks on the list would take training of her own. Despite being more intelligent than most dogs by a long shot, she would still have to learn how to properly use a dog's form to complete the tasks.

"It mentions fetching several different things on here. Luna could learn how to fetch your legs, Usagi, and it could count," Naru said after a brief period of silence.

"That would work, but that still leaves another two tasks," Usagi said.

"I thought you said the minimum was two," Luna looked up, frowning.

"It does, but it doesn't hurt for you to be able to perform more than two for the test if they ask," Usagi said, not bothering to look up from the list.

"The more I read this, the more I kind of wish we could have afforded a service dog back right after of the earthquake," Usagi said softly, mainly to herself. It would have been great to have had some help other than her mom in those early days before they could afford her prosthetic legs.

"The smoke sniffing one should be easy enough to pass," Luna said after a couple of minutes, deciding it was best to ignore the earlier comment.

"Maybe Luna could learn to work with the wheelchair for when you're home alone? There are several wheelchair based tasks on the list," Naru suggested.

Luna frowned slightly as Usagi conceded the point.

"You have a wheelchair?" the cat asked, surprised.

Usagi scratched the back of her head slightly before replying, "Yeah, but I really haven't used it since I got my legs. I haven't really needed to, but I still have it. It's more for when I'm home alone and want to do tasks that require me removing my legs, but can't use my crutches. Or when I just don't feel like putting on my legs at the moment. But I'm not usually home alone, so I don't need it. I guess we could get it out so you can do some tasks with it for the test. We would need to get a harness first, though."

Luna glanced back down at the list, giving it one last look.

"Well, it definitely would put us well in the clear of the minimum tasks, so I guess I don't mind learning how to do those tasks in dog form," she agreed.

"All right, then it's settled! I'll bring the wheelchair with me this weekend so we can work on those tasks. In the meantime, starting tomorrow we'll start working on you learning to carry my legs!" Usagi said, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

* * *

As promised, two days later Usagi returned to the shrine with a familiar tall brunette in tow. She and Mako had bonded over school troubles and love for arcade games. Along the way, Mako had brought up that she was looking for a part time to help cover for the classes she had to take. When Rei had mentioned that she was looking for a part time worker to help around the shrine, her thoughts had flown to her other new friend and she thought it would be a good idea to at least introduce the two.

"Usagi, you're back again," Rei greeted as she spotted them, eyeing the taller girl slightly.

"Uh huh. And I brought along someone that might be able to help you out," Usagi spoke up.

"Really?" Rei asked.

"Yeah. Usagi mentioned that you were looking for a part time worker? I'm kind of in need of a part time job at the moment to help cover some expenses I've built up that aren't covered by the allowance that my parents set up," Makoto said, scratching the back of her head slightly.

Rei frowned slightly, giving the taller girl a once over before saying, "All right, let's move inside the shrine so we can further discuss this."

Mako relaxed a bit while Usagi felt her grin grow.

"You think you can get home from here if I head out when you go inside?" Usagi asked.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Thanks for the help," Mako said, returning the smile.

"Not a problem. Good luck and text me afterwards and let me know how it goes," Usagi said, watching as Mako followed Rei through one of the sliding doors before she turned to head out. She technically was supposed to be at a senshi meeting right now, but in order to coordinate this with Mako she had to ditch it for a bit. As she made her way quickly back down the shrine stairs, she knew it was worth Luna's scolding to possibly solve her friend's problems.

* * *

The next time Usagi visited the shrine, Luna decided to tag along, curious to find out more about the place that had been attracting the leader senshi a lot lately. Mako had landed the part time job at the shrine for the spring break, much to Usagi's delight. It was temporary for the moment, though apparently Rei had said that if she and her grandpa liked what they saw, she might become a permanent hire after the school year started, at least once Mako's class had finished. Until the class was done, it would be cutting into her time to work at the shrine and attend school.

While Mako had mostly sorted out her school issues, Usagi was still on pins and needles about hers. She was expecting a letter by the end of the week, at the latest, and it was causing her quite a bit more anxiety than normal. Though she had been going almost every day for the past few days, the tarot card readings had come up very vague on the school front so far, so they were providing very little comfort. The frequency was a bit overboard, even for her. _Ah, the wonders of school-ridden anxiety._

She figured a few extra prayers to some gods up in the heavens probably couldn't hurt, on top of everything else. When she got to the shrine, Mako was sweeping the front and she greeted her with a grin.

"Hey, Usagi!"

"Hey, Mako-chan! How have the first couple of days working here been so far?" Usagi asked as she saw Luna slip off to go explore.

"Pretty good, for the most part. I would say calm, but the shrine priest hasn't exactly been calm lately," she quipped slightly.

"Yeah, Rei was mentioning that part of the reason they needed a part-time worker was that they couldn't really leave the shrine unintended while she took him to a doctor's appointment," Usagi replied as she went to drop some money off in the offering box for her own prayer.

"Uh huh. She was finally able to schedule an appointment for him tomorrow, so I'm going to have the place to myself while they're gone. I'm surprised they're trusting me that much all ready," Mako said, scratching the back of her head slightly.

Usagi shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"I think she might be just concerned for her grandpa. She made it sound like it was unusual for him to behaving like this, so she may just be looking at it as the first chance to do what is needed. The shrine is their livelihood, after all," she replied.

"That's true enough, though I'm still surprised they don't have anyone else working here," Mako said with a shrug.

"I think they lost a bunch of their workers during the bus incident a few months back. Rei made it sound like they've been trying to hire part time help for a while now, but you're the first new hire they've had since the incident," Usagi said, thinking back on the conversation from the other day.

"But it's not like the shrine was involved with the bus disappearances. They just happened to be located near the bus stop, right? Why are people thinking they are connected?" Mako said, frowning and earning a shrug from Usagi.

"Don't know. Experience has taught me that sometimes people around here aren't always the smartest when it comes to certain things," she replied.

Mako raised an eyebrow at the comment but didn't push any further, instead choosing to shift the topic of conversation to video games. She made the wise choice to steer clear of school, something neither really wanted to talk about. It wasn't until about an hour later that Luna showed up again, making clear indications that she wanted to leave. Usagi made a bit of a show that she needed to get going, saying she needed to meet up with a friend, before heading down the shrine steps. Once she was far enough down the steps, she stepped off into some of the trees that surrounded the shrine to ask, "So, what's up?"

"It appears that the priest is the next holder of a Rainbow Crystal," Luna said.

"Man, this shrine has some bad luck about it," Usagi muttered to herself. First the bus incident, now the priest apparently was a former Great Warrior of the Dark Kingdom; this place couldn't seem to catch a break.

"It's possible that the priest being a sleeping warrior might have accidentally attracted the Dark Kingdom originally. Hopefully by removing his crystal, it should stop drawing their attention," Luna said.

"Does it have something to do with the fact that people thought the shrine was indirectly connected with buses disappearing?" Usagi asked curiously.

"Maybe. I do not try to understand how human minds work," Luna admitted.

"Well, hopefully if we take care of this, whatever leftover Dark Kingdom magic will disappear and people will start coming back," Usagi said.

"It's also possible the Dark Kingdom magic is warding people off. Removing the crystal may get rid of the shrine's problems," Luna agreed.

"All right, then we'll come back in two days with the others to take care of the problem," Usagi said, looking back at the shrine entrance.

"Why not tomorrow?" Luna asked.

"Mako-chan said that Rei was taking her grandfather to the doctor tomorrow. If we go tomorrow, we might miss him and thus make the trip pointless," Usagi pointed out.

"True. Two days, then," Luna agreed, and then they continued their ways down the steps, heading back towards Naru's house.

* * *

When Usagi came back a few days, she brought the others with all of them already in uniform. Since they knew the target, she had decided that it would be easier to get the job done quicker if they just showed up in senshi uniform. The public was starting to get used to see them around, so they didn't attract so many stares when walking down the adjacent street to Rei's house after using a nearby alleyway for transformations.

What they hadn't counted on was for Zoicite to have already made the first move before they got there. He was just disappearing, Rainbow Crystal in hand, as they reached the top of the steps to see Mako trying to engage the youma again.

"Mako!" Usagi gaped openly.

"Moon!" Luna scolded.

"Sorry, Luna," Usagi said, trying not to blush at the slip up. She really hadn't meant to refer to the girl by name, letting her know they knew her, but Mako kept surprising her with stunts like this. At least she was able to bite her lip when Rei surprised her and used one of her talisman papers on the youma, knocking it flat on the ground.

"Saturn, get the priestess to a safe distance. Uranus and Neptune, start alternating attacks once she's gotten her clear of the area," she said as soon as she had enough time to register the situation.

"But-" she heard Rei begin to protest as Hotaru grabbed one of her arms and began pulling her in the direction of the surrounding trees.

"We will be more than able to pay for any damage that happens to the shrine by accident while taking him out, if that is what you are concerned about," she said, trying to encourage Rei not to resist Hotaru the extent she was right now.

"He's my grandpa!" Rei snapped as she managed to pull herself free of Hotaru's grip, stopping them just short the forest edge. Thankfully, Haruka and Michiru were keeping the youma distracted at the moment, so he missed the rather loud outburst.

"Oh," was the only response Usagi could come up with. Well, that explained the odd behavior that Rei had been commenting on over the last few days. Maybe Zoicite had been interrupted from removing the crystal on a prior attempt and the behavior had been a side effect of the partial crystal removal?

Thankfully, Luna chose that moment to quickly say, "Don't worry, your grandfather is not the first person to be taken over by a youma. We know how to not only take care of the situation, but how to return your grandfather back to normal. But, please, for now allow Saturn to take you somewhere safer."

Rei seemed to hesitate again, but this time Hotaru spoke up, "Please, follow me. What we are saying is true. We have taken out four other youma and saved all four of the people in situations like your grandfather's; we will be able to easily take care of his, but it would be best if we get you to safety first."

Rei finally relented, following Hotaru into the forest as Usagi turned her attention back to the fight. Watching, she realized that this one was a pretty big nuisance. It was faster than any other youma they had encountered and could shoot fire balls, which was not a great combination. Though, as she watched for a bit, she began to realize that, in order for it to launch a fireball, it had to slow its natural speed, making the best opening for an attack right before or right after one of its attacks.

Trying to figure out how best to time their attacks was another complicated matter, because it meant that the other girls had to be ready to go right as Jiji prepared to attack, all the while hoping their attacks didn't cancel out with Jiji's fireballs. They weren't sure how powerful their own attacks were in comparison with the Great Warrior's attack.

Thankfully, Saturn provided an opening of her own upon her return. Apparently having also noticed the weakness while observing, she launched a sneak attack, knocking the youma to the ground and giving enough time for the older girls to power up their attacks. Hotaru only jumped off the youma once the attacks were almost on top of her, allowing Haruka and Michiru to land each of their own attacks in turn.

Usagi whipped out her mirror and yelled, "Moon Healing Escalation!"

She let out a sigh of relief as the youma returned back to Rei's grandfather. The two older girls moved to flank her and Haruka turned slightly toward her to ask, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. All around, it took less effort with him once we got him knocked down, for some reason, so I'm not as tired as the last times. Not sure why, though," she admitted. Sure, she was still somewhat tired, but nothing like the other times.

"It might have to do with the age of the host. This is a rather old host for a Great Warrior. It's possible he doesn't have the same kind of energy as the other hosts to fuel the youma. Are you sure you are okay?" Luna said, addressing Usagi with the last part.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm still a bit tired from last week's fight, but this week's incident really didn't take any more out of me," Usagi said with a shrug.

"Okay, then we should get out of here before things get even messier," Luna said, turning away from the shrine and beginning to lead the group back towards the steps. Usagi hesitated briefly before following. Rei and Mako would be along in a few minutes now that the sounds of battle had finally faded and she did need to get home.

* * *

"Easy there, I just want to talk," Tuxedo Kamen said, holding up his hands in a defensive position. They hadn't made it too far before they had been surprisingly approached by one of the more sporadic member of their group. Of course Haruka and Michiru had gone on the defensive, which seemed to be their automatic setting lately Usagi noticed with a bit of a sigh.

"Why? The last time we saw you, you were taking off after having successfully kept Zoicite from getting the crystal, yet you refused to talk to us," Haruka said, frowning as she crossed her arms, only relaxing slightly.

"I was going to step in today right around the new girl showed up, but then you girls seemed to handle everything fine, so I let you finish it," he said.

"Right," Haruka said in a quiet tone, earning a giggle from Hotaru and rolled eyes from Michiru.

"Look, I had a talk with the other member of your group who shows up as she pleases," he began.

"Pluto actually talked to you?" Michiru asked in disbelief. Pluto did show up and help on occasion but had never really talked with the other girls.

"Briefly. She said that it would be better for me to team up with you than to work as a separate entity," he replied.

"Why?" Haruka asked.

"She explained why you guys are searching for the Ginzuishou and kind of smacked me upside the head with the idea that I might be able to get my answers if I try to work with you rather than against you," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"What kind of questions can an ancient crystal answer?" Haruka asked, her tone turning skeptical.

"I lost my parents in a crash when I was five and lost most of my memories in the same crash. Ever since then, I've been having haunting dreams about the Moon Princess, always revolving around the same thing. Even if it can't clue me into what lies in my past, it can at least tell me why she keeps showing up in my dreams," he said, sounding a bit exasperated.

The two older girls frowned.

"Would you give us a few minutes to speak among ourselves and then get back to you?" Usagi spoke up.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said, frowning slightly. He had thought they might be more open to this.

They dropped back closer to the edge of the trees and Usagi said first, "Okay, one at time I want to hear pros and cons for this. I want more than one for each of them. And, no, they can't just be just because he shows up at random, Uranus. Neptune, you start."

"Pro, we get additional fighting power, we have another rainbow crystal, and we lose an enemy in the hunt for the crystals. Cons, we don't currently know his fighting skills, how trustworthy he actually is, or if he will continue to be an ally once his questions are answered," Michiru said.

"Valid points. Uranus?" Usagi said, turning to the other girl.

"What Neptune said, and the fact he was apparently pushed to join us by an outside benefactor, not by his own decision. I know he said it was Pluto, but I find it odd that she hasn't made the decision to join our team herself. For all we know, he could be making up the stuff about her," Uranus said.

"All right. Saturn?" she said, looking to the final member of the group.

"They pretty much covered anything I could think of," she answered.

"Okay, so should we say that we don't want the alliance, then? I mean, it feels odd to turn down a possible ally and a rainbow crystal," Usagi asked.

There was a slight pause before Hotaru said, "I think maybe we should take the offer, but with some conditions until we feel we can trust him better – like we don't reveal our identities yet and, if we need to get in touch or meet somewhere, we have a place to do that – that way we gain the alliance but we don't completely expose ourselves to a factor that Luna isn't familiar with."

Haruka and Michiru exchanged glances as Usagi began to nod.

"That sounds like the best solution. What do you two think?"

"I think we agree as long as the meet up location is nowhere near any place that could be easily traced back to any of us," Michiru said after a second.

"So probably the old training grounds in the park, then?" Usagi suggested after thinking it over.

"Seems like the best spot," Haruka agreed.

"All right, then let's go tell him our decision," Usagi said, giving the group a nervous smile as they turned to go back to where they had left Tuxedo Kamen.

_...So while we didn't end up actually getting the priest's crystal_ _,_ _we did end up getting a new crystal_ _since we_ _are now in a tentative alliance with Tuxedo Kamen. As it stands there are only two more rainbow crystals left to track down_ _, and_ _after that_ _it's_ _going to become a matter of trickery._ _Zoicite_ _will be attempting to get our crystals and we will be attempting to get his._

_My_ _referring to Mako by name for the second time got me a scolding from Luna. She says if I keep this up_ _,_ _magic or not_ _,_ _Mako will realize who I really_ _am_ _. I'm trying not to refer to her by name every time I see her while I'm in uniform_ _,_ _but she keeps surprising me when she takes on these youma before we show up to take care of them._

_Mako is settling well into her new job at the shrine_ _and, in_ _the couple of times I have talked to Rei since_ _,_ _she has started_ _implying_ _that introducing the two was a good decision. Since taking care of the Rainbow Crystal_ _,_ _apparently her grandpa has returned to normal._ _To_ _make things even better_ _,_ _business is apparently starting to pick up again at the shrine_ _, so everything's_ _starting to look up_ _for them_ _. Hopefully_ _they'll_ _be able to find some more help_ _soon,_ _besides Mako_ _,_ _so Rei's grandpa won't be running the place solo once the school year starts._

_Your big sister,_

_Usagi Tsukino_

__  
End Chapter 20  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And that's a wrap! Hoe you guys enjoyed it.
> 
> Concerning this week's preview.This is a bit of an example of what happens when my Muses decide to take an idea and really run with it. You guys have seen it a couple of other times mostly where the ideas of the Senshi working with the government and having their own anime from. Consider it a semi-preview for later chapters because yeah the big mid-20s chapter is going to have a big info dump on this universe's version of the Silver Millennium and other things like this (alien races, history of the aliens and Earth, etc.). Preview for Chapter 21:
> 
> Despite her reassurances that she was fine and that she could handle Terran creatures just fine she did stick closer to Naru's house for the next couple of days. Hightailing it out of there at any sign of Terran creature persuit. To the point where she nearly missed an encounter with a race she hadn't thought about whether or not they still inhabited Earth or not since the Silver Millenium. But she knew automatically that this was no Terran house cat when she came across a rather large light blue cat one day towards the end of a patrol. No native cats on earth came in that shade of blue which left one explanation.
> 
> "A Teuan," she muttered more to herself in amazement. While there had been a few Maus that had scattered throughout the solar system after they had invented space travel most had remained on their home world. But their had been a rather large colony that had chosen to settle on Earth and the surrounding planets in the early days of the Silver Alliance. Commonly referred to as Teuans they were more a distant cousin of what her and Artemis were but still technically they all descended from the same genetic line way back when probably.
> 
> "A Mauan. Must admit I don't think any of us ever thought we would see any of you here after the fall of the Silver Alliance," came the response. Distinctly male, crap. Not what she needed right now.
> 
> She began to back a few steps. She knew what affect her cycle would have back home on other Mauan but Teuans was unknown territory for her. She backed up a couple of steps.
> 
> "Calm down I all ready have a mate. You sure are jumpy for a Mauan," he said..
> 
> "You try running from various Terran creatures for the last three days and see how jumpy you are," was her response but she did finally relax now that she knew he wasn't a threat.
> 
> "Point taken. Names Hercules, yours?" he said. Now that she calming down some she realized he was speaking in his form's language and not English fascinating. Maybe the Teuans had lost the gift of tongues over time?
> 
> "Luna. What's with the choice in languages?" she said tilting her head slightly.
> 
> "We lost the ability to speak anything out of our body's natural language a long time ago," he explained.
> 
> "But you understand me just fine," she said tilting her head in confusion. Normally to talk with other Terran animals she would have to switch to their native tongues for her to be understood. But while Hercules was speaking Terran cat she was still speaking English and being understood by the Teuan perfectly well.
> 
> "Just because I can't speak it doesn't mean I can't understand it. We lost the part of the gift that we no longer needed. But seeing as understanding languages is still useful we retained that part of the gift," he said.
> 
>  
> 
> That's it for now. See you in a week with 21.


	21. AN: I Hate My Life

AN: So here we are again. Except this time instead of having a beta to blame we have a computer to blame. Possibly.

See I am uploading this tonight as I have just discovered my laptop has decided it doesn't want to turn on. Where all my fanfics are stored. Cue freak out by me.

I have no clue if this is a simple problem of my laptop not wanting to power on or if my harddrive has diead again. If its the later than Houston we have a problem the size of Texas. Since I am not sure how much fanfic is backed up on my external harddrive. At least on the Sailor Moon front. On the Star Trek front, none of it is. So if I lost any of my harddrive. I am going to have to start all the way from scratch. Lovely I know.

I am just praying to whatever gods there are that this can be resolved by a power cord replacement. Or a motherboard replacement. Or something that doesn't require me losing all my files. Because if I lose my files. Then you guys are looking at somewhere to a couple of weeks to a month or two before another chapter gets to you. Yeah thats how much data I could have lost in a crash. I won't know until this gets resolved.

Well except for the Different Path readers. Chapter 21 is with my beta so I could get to you it the next Friday after I finally get it back from her. But after that were in uncharted waters.

I hate my life.


	22. Sort of an Update but its good News at least

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Announcement

Hey Guys! Hard to believe it’s been 5 years since Chapter One right? Anyway, I am going to keep this brief since I prattle on quite a bit in another AN. But good news! Different Path’s revised version is finally ready to be posted. It will be up momentarily under the name Path’s Divergence. See you over there and hope you enjoy the revised version.


End file.
